UNRWA Head, Karen Abu Zayd: Gaza Strip Facing Catastrophe

Saturday November 22, 2008 10:32 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

Commissioner-general of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), Karen Abu Zayd, stated that the Gaza Strip is facing a humanitarian catastrophe as Israel continues the siege over the coastal region and prevents essential aid from reaching residents.

Abu Zayd added that the situation in the Gaza Strip this month is the worst since the early days of the Palestinian Intifada which started late September of 2000.

She said that border crossing have been sealed for the longest period ever, and that the UNRWA have nothing left in their warehouses to deliver to the impoverished coastal region.

“We don’t have anything left in our warehouse”, she said, “This situation will lead to a catastrophe, a disaster”.

Abu Zayd also said that despite the declared truce in Gaza, Israel did not allow the UNRWA to bring food into the Gaza Strip, and that the UNRWA does not have any food to deliver.

Speaking in Amman – Jordan, Abu Zayd said that the “food basket” provided by the UNRWA usually covers 60% of the daily needs of the residents and includes milk powered and sugar.

She added that an increasing number of Palestinians are suffering from malnutrition and that this issue is mainly affecting the children and impeding their growth.

The UNRWA currently provides aid for approximately 820.000 Palestinian refugees while the World Food Program, part of the UN, provides aid to 200.000 Palestinians.

Israel claims that the recent closure came after Palestinian fighters resumed the firing of homemade shells into adjacent Israel areas. Palestinian armed groups in Gaza say that the shells were fired in retaliation to the Israeli offensive and invasion on November fourth.

During last week’s, Israeli soldiers killed four Palestinians and wounded at least six others.

Israel also barred European Union-funded fuel for entering the Gaza Strip. The fuel was meant to be used in operating the Gaza Power Plant which provides at least one-third of the Gaza Strip with electricity.

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