A United Nations agency warned Sunday that Gaza is “running out of life,” as Israel’s siege on the territory leaves Palestinians with dwindling supplies of food, water and medicine.
Israel has cut off supplies to Gaza and ordered people to move south in advance of an expected ground assault on the territory. Hamas, which controls Gaza, launched attacks on Israeli villages, farms and military outposts last week in a bloody assault that targeted civilians and left more than 1,300 dead.
“In fact, Gaza is being strangled and it seems the world right now has lost its humanity,” said Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the East. “If we look at the issue of water, we all know water is life. Gaza is running out of water and Gaza is running out of life.”
“Soon, I believe, with this there will be no food or medicine either,” Lazzarini continued.
The humanitarian crisis in Gaza deepened over the last several days following Israel’s order for a “complete siege,” vowing to halt the supplies of food, water and electricity.
Israel has been bombarding Gaza, with strikes killing 450 people on Sunday alone, according to Palestinian officials.
At least 2,670 Palestinians have died in the conflict, with an additional 9,600 others wounded, the Gaza Health Ministry said Sunday. The death toll has surpassed that of the 2014 Gaza war, which lasted more than six weeks. It is the deadliest of the five Gaza wars from both sides.
Trucks carrying aid have waited at the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt for days, as mediators urge for a cease-fire that would allow the trucks to enter the territory and allow foreigners to leave. Rafah, Gaza’s only connection to Egypt, shut down last week in the wake of Israeli airstrikes.
“There is not one drop of water, not one grain of wheat, not a liter of fuel that has been allowed into the Gaza Strip for the last eight days,” Lazzarini said. “The number of people seeking shelter in our schools and other UNRWA facilities in the south is absolutely overwhelming, and we do not have any more the capacity to deal with them.”
Lazzarini said U.N. agencies are “no longer able to provide humanitarian assistance,” calling the situation an “unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe.”
Hospitals in Gaza warned that they are on the verge of collapse as they attempt to treat the thousands of Palestinians injured in the violence.
The hospitals are executed to run out of generator fuel in the next 24 hours, which comes days after Gaza’s sole power plant shut down last week.
Coupled with hundreds of airstrikes into the territory, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have fled their homes over the past week.
Israel forces last Friday ordered an estimated 1.1 million Palestinians — almost half of the territory — to evacuate Gaza City and the surrounding area ahead of an expected ground invasion in the north.
Meanwhile, Hamas is reportedly telling residents not to leave and to instead stay in their homes.
More than 1,400 Israelis have died in the conflict, with at least 199 people being held hostage in Gaza, The Associated Press reported.
The Associated Press contributed.