UN says humanitarian staff fainting due to hunger in Gaza

RTÉ News​

4 days ago

The head of the UN Palestinian Refugee Agency has said that its staff members as well as doctors and humanitarian workers are fainting on duty due to hunger and exhaustion.
"Caretakers, including UNRWA colleagues in Gaza, are also in need of care now, doctors, nurses, journalists, humanitarians, among them, UNRWA staff are hungry.
"Many are now fainting due to hunger and exhaustion while performing their duties," UNRWA commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini said in a statement, shared by his spokesperson at a press briefing in Geneva.
In a separate post on X, UNRWA said the people of Gaza, including UNRWA workers, are "being starved".
"Meanwhile, just a few kilometers away from Gaza supermarkets and shops are loaded with food and other goods.
"Lift the siege. Allow UNRWA to bring in food and medicines," it said.
Mr Lazzarini's comments come as the Roman Catholic church's most senior cleric in the Holy Land said that the humanitarian situation in Gaza was "morally unacceptable", after visiting the war-torn Palestinian territory.
"We have seen men holding out in the sun for hours in the hope of a simple meal," Latin Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa told a news conference.
"It's morally unacceptable and unjustified," he added.
Israeli attacks kill 130 Palestinians in past 24 hours - ministry update
Israeli tanks pushed into southern and eastern districts of the Gazan city of Deir al-Balah for the first time yesterday.
The area is packed with Palestinians displaced during more than 21 months of Israeli attacks on Gaza, hundreds of whom fled west or south after Israel issued an evacuation order, saying it sought to destroy infrastructure and capabilities of the militant group Hamas.
Tank shelling in the area hit houses and mosques, killing at least three Palestinians and wounding several others, local medics said.
"UN staff remain in Deir al-Balah, and two UN guesthouses have been struck, despite parties having been informed of the locations of UN premises, which are inviolable. These locations - as with all civilian sites - must be protected, regardless of evacuation orders," UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.
The World Health Organization said its staff residence and main warehouse in Deir al-Balah was attacked yesterday.
Two WHO staff and two family members were detained by the Israeli military, said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, adding that three were later released while one staff member remained in detention.
To the south in Khan Younis, an Israeli airstrike killed at least five people, including a husband and wife and their two children in a tent, medics said.
In its daily update, Gaza's Health Ministry said at least 130 Palestinians had been killed and more than 1,000 wounded by Israeli gunfire and military strikes across the territory in the past 24 hours, one of the highest such totals in recent weeks.
Health officials warn of 'mass deaths' from hunger in coming days
Gaza health officials have warned of potential "mass deaths" in coming days from hunger, which has killed at least 19 people since Saturday, the territory's health ministry said.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was appalled by an accelerating breakdown of humanitarian conditions in Gaza "where the last lifelines keeping people alive are collapsing," Dujarric said.
"He deplores the growing reports of children and adults suffering from malnutrition," said Dujarric.
"Israel has the obligation to allow and facilitate by all the means at its disposal the humanitarian relief provided by the United Nations and by other humanitarian organizations."
Health officials say hospitals have been running out of fuel, food aid and medicine, risking a halt to vital operations.
Health Ministry spokesperson Khalil Al-Deqran said medical staff have been depending on one meal a day and that hundreds of people flock to hospitals every day, suffering from fatigue and exhaustion.
In southern Gaza, the Health Ministry said an Israeli undercover unit had on Monday detained Marwan Al-Hams, head of Gaza's field hospitals, in a raid that killed a local journalist and wounded another outside a field medical facility run by the International Committee of the Red Cross.
An ICRC spokesperson said the ICRC had treated patients injured in the incident, but did not comment further on their status. It said it was "very concerned about the safety and security" around the field hospital.
Israel has raided and attacked hospitals across Gaza during the war, accusing Hamas of using them for military purposes, an accusation the group denies. Sending undercover forces to carry out arrests is rare.
The incursion into Deir al-Balah and the growing number of deaths appeared to be complicating efforts to secure a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel in talks mediated by Qatar and Egypt, with U.S. backing.
A Hamas official said the militant group was angered by the mounting death toll and hunger crisis, and said it could affect the talks on a 60-day truce and hostage deal.