After almost a month of siege, Palestinians in Gaza loot UN warehouses

That HI M said so today Thousands of Palestinians looted several of its warehouses and auxiliary distribution centers i The Gaza Strip and warned of a breakdown in law and order after three weeks of Israeli siege and shelling since the Hamas attacks.

In a statement, the United Nations Palestine Refugee Agency (UNRWA), which is by far the largest provider of humanitarian services in the Gaza Strip, said “thousands of people” entered several warehouses and distribution centers in the center and south of the territory controlled by Hamas and took different elements.

“It is a worrying sign that public order is beginning to collapse after three weeks of war and a severe siege on Gaza,” UNRWA Gaza chief Thomas White added in a statement.

On a visit to Nepal, UN Secretary-General António Guterres today expressed his concern over the “increasingly desperate” situation in the Gaza Strip and lamented that Israel has “intensified its military operations” in the Palestinian enclave.

“The world is witnessing a humanitarian catastrophe unfolding before our eyes,” Guterres said in Kathmandu, the Nepalese capital, on the impact of the bombings in the Palestinian enclave since the attacks by the Hamas group in Israel.

“The situation in Gaza is becoming more and more desperate, hour by hour. “I regret that instead of a badly needed humanitarian pause, supported by the international community, Israel has intensified its military operations,” he added.

The UN chief described the number of civilians killed and wounded in the escalation between Israel and Hamas as “totally unacceptable”, the AFP news agency reported.

The conflict was sparked by the bloody attack carried out by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas on Israeli territory on October 7, which left 1,400 dead, mostly civilians. Hamas also took about 220 people hostage, about twenty of them Argentine citizens.

Israel responded to that attack with a bombing campaign against the Gaza Strip, ruled by Hamas, which has so far left more than 8,000 dead, including mostly civilians.

Guterres reiterated his call for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire” in the Gaza Strip and called for the “provision of continued humanitarian assistance on a scale that meets the needs of the population” in the Palestinian territory.

“More than 2 million people, who have nowhere to go in complete safety, are deprived of essential elements of life – food, water, shelter and medical care – while they are subjected to incessant bombardment,” added the UN Secretary-General. .

Israel also imposed a total blockade of the supply of food, water, medicine and fuel to Gaza. The first convoy of humanitarian aid did not enter Palestinian territory until two weeks later.

Since then, 84 trucks of aid have arrived in Gaza, according to UNRWA. However, humanitarian aid organizations warn that the supply is seriously inadequate.

Before the conflict, an average of 500 trucks a day entered Gaza, according to UN data.

“The supplies […] “They are running out and the aid arriving in the Gaza Strip in trucks from Egypt is insufficient,” White insisted, stressing that the people of Gaza have “huge needs.”