The Gaza Strip has descended into complete chaos, with rising famine, widespread looting and increasingly frequent rapes in refugee camps, United Nations officials said.
The scale of the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza “must be seen to be truly understood”, said Ajith Sunghay, head of the UN human rights office in the Palestinian territories, after his latest visit to Gaza.
“The collapse of public order and security is exacerbating the situation, with widespread looting and struggles for resources that have become scarce,” he further testified.
Gender-based violence and rape
The UN representative further said that young women, many of whom have been repeatedly displaced, reported a lack of safe spaces and privacy in their makeshift tents.
“Some say that cases of gender-based violence and rape, child abuse and other forms of violence in refugee camps have increased, due to war and the breakdown of law and order, a- he added.
Transport of aid hampered
The head of the High Commission’s office also deplores the fact that the aid that the UN was supposed to provide in northern Gaza is hampered, due to “repeated obstacles or rejections of humanitarian convoys by the Israeli authorities.”
“It is absolutely obvious that massive humanitarian aid needs to arrive – and that is not the case,” he said.
Swiss
