More than 175,000 Displaced People in UNRWA Schools In Gaza Amid Warnings of Food Shortage
(AWP) - The Israeli unprecedented strikes on the Gaza Strip have resulted in a collective wave of displacement that reached more than 175,000 people, according to the United Nations Relief and Work Agency for Palestine (UNRWA), which is expecting the numbers to rise.
The agency said that nearly 175,500 displaced persons moved to 88 UNRWA schools in the Strip that is inhabited by more than two million people, amid fears of limited access to services and Israel’s closure of the Karam Abu Salem crossing.
UNRWA’s Al-Shatee Joint Primary School for refugees received scores of families since the beginning of the heaving bombing on the strip.
"We are performing our duty towards the displaced, especially since they are suffering from cuts in water, electricity, food, and all life necessities. We provide them with what we can as much as possible, such as with water and their minimum requirements," Atta Deif Allah, an official at the Beit Hanoun Municipality, said.
"Water is cut off and scarce, as a result of the lack of electricity and the stoppage of wells, and we face great difficulties, including power outages, bombing of the streets, and we were exposed to bombing while in the streets, and severe dangers that we face in order to provide the displaced with the basic necessities of life, including water," he added.
UNRWA is receiving aid through Israeli ports, particularly the Port of Ashdod.
According to UNRWA spokesperson, Adnan Abu Hasna, there are ongoing talks with Egypt to discuss the means and possibility of bringing in goods from the Egyptian side amid the Karam Abu Salem crossing’s closure.
Mohammed Shehadeh, a displaced Palestinian who fled to al-Shatee school, expressed his fear that their situation might linger for a long time without anyone caring to help this large number of displaced people.
"We are appealing to UNRWA, we are appealing to the world, we are appealing even to the United Nations. The Palestinian people today are refugees. They are all refugees. There is not one of us who meets the citizen status. Everyone is a refugee today. Look at them," he said.
Displaced woman Zeinab Motawee, spoke of her humble "hope to have food and diapers, I hope that life will be good, that the world will not be miserable, that life will be happy, beautiful, and not destructive, that everyone will be happy, the children will be happy, and that the destruction will disappear".
Another displaced Palestinian in Gaza, Shaaban al-Den, described the situation as "miserable", adding that "there is no improvement, and it is getting worse. Every day a house is destroyed, every day there is war, every day there are martyrs, every day there are casualties. We hear several strikes a day.
We wake up from our sleep with panic and terror. We live in a terrifying way of life, as if you are watching a horror movie".
"We expect to die at any moment while walking with the children. I have twins, but my situation is unsafe. My wife is also sick, and there is no electricity or food or water, a life in which the living [people] are equal to the dead," he said.