MORE than 130,000 Palestinians from various areas of the Gaza Strip have been displaced to the schools belonging to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for Palestine Refugees in the Near East since a fresh round of fierce fight between Hamas and Israel began on October 7.
As of Friday, evening local time, around 80 schools belonging to the UNRWA had taken in 137,000 displaced Palestinian refugees, and the number will keep rising in the next hours, said Adnan Abu Hasna, the UNRWA media advisor.
In a CCTV interview, Adnan Abu Hasna, a UNRWA official for Palestinian Refugees, expects that more than 200,000 will take refuge in their schools.
UNRWA is ready to provide food, water, electricity, and health care, as well as psychological support for these displaced refugees.
A total of 18 UNRWA facilities have been damaged in various areas located in the Gaza Strip.
The UNRWA headquarters also stopped services after being seriously damaged in bombings of nearby buildings on Friday.
The commissioner-general’s office and the UNRWA headquarters office have completely stopped services.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called on all parties to allow humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip and prevent further civilian fighting.
‘‘Moving more than one million people across a densely populated warzone to a place with no food, water, or accommodation, when the entire territory is under siege, is extremely dangerous, and in some cases, simply not possible.’’
‘‘We need immediate humanitarian access throughout Gaza so that we can get fuel, food and water to everyone in need. Even wars have rules. International humanitarian law and human rights law must be respected and upheld. Civilians must be protected and also never used as shields,’’ Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary-General, stated.
Gaza is short of humanitarian supplies, drinking water, and electricity due to the Israeli siege and airstrikes.
Gaza is also facing severe internet outages, with connectivity continuing to dip amid Israeli air raids.
