People wait for food relief in the southern Gaza Strip city
of Rafah, on Dec. 31, 2023. [Photo/Xinhua]
A senior official from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) announced on Thursday that the humanitarian situation of the over 2 million people in Gaza is at risk of worsening after 16 countries stopped financial support to the agency.
Thomas White, UNRWA operations official in Gaza, said in a statement that "thousands of people were forced to flee to the south due to bombings and fighting in Khan Younis last week, adding to over 1.4 million people already crowded in Rafah governorate."
"Most of them are living in temporary places, tents, or in the open, and now they also fear not receiving any food or other humanitarian assistance from the UNRWA, and it is hard to imagine that Gaza residents will be able to survive this crisis without the UNRWA."
All over Gaza, nearly 2 million people -- mostly women and children -- rely on the UNRWA to stay alive as the agency manages crowded shelters, food aid, and primary healthcare, the official said, adding "their humanitarian situation worsens as the war continues and humanitarian aid remains severely restricted."
Furthermore, he reported that his organization continues to coordinate with the Israeli army to allow access to the northern Gaza Strip, but has been largely denied.
"When our convoys are finally allowed to go to the area, people rush to the trucks to get food and often eat it immediately," he said.
UNRWA is the largest humanitarian organization in Gaza. Among its 13,000 employees, over 3,000 continuous staff are the backbone of humanitarian operations, according to White.
