U.N. says Israel-Hamas war causing “unmatched” suffering in Gaza, pleads for new cease-fire, more aid

Israel’s army says it has captured Hamas’ former headquarters in Gaza Metropolis, however the warfare between the 2 sides was nonetheless raging Monday additional south in Gaza, and the scenario for civilians is barely getting worse. United Nations aid businesses say about 90% of the Palestinian territory’s inhabitants has been displaced — practically 2 million males, ladies and kids.
 
The U.N. World Meals Program (WFP) says practically all of these within the enclave are going with out meals for days at a time, and half of the displaced Palestinians are ravenous.

“I’ve seen a household gathering over a loaf of bread, simply getting it into small items like croutons that we placed on the facet,” WFP spokesperson Abeer Etefa advised CBS Information. “The struggling of the youngsters in Gaza is, I feel, it is unmatched.”  

“The humanitarian operation is definitely on the point of collapse,” added Etefa. “It is inconceivable to ship support in these circumstances… We want the cease-fire now.”

That decision, and a plea for a significant enhance within the circulation of humanitarian support, was repeated by the top of the U.N.’s aid company for Palestinians within the Gaza Strip and West Financial institution (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini. He advised CBS Information as he ready to cross into Gaza from Egypt on Monday that the failure of worldwide powers to barter a brand new cease-fire had left him with “deep frustration, disappointment, some outrage additionally.”

The U.S., Israel’s Most worthy ally, stood alone on the U.N. Safety Council Friday to veto a decision that might have known as for a brand new cease-fire within the warfare.

Lazzarini mentioned he was visiting the realm to point out solidarity with the Palestinian folks trapped there, and with the greater than 10,000 workers members from his company nonetheless attempting to assist these folks. UNRWA mentioned over the weekend that at the least 134 members of its workers had been killed in Gaza since Oct. 7, when the warfare was sparked by Hamas’ brutal terror assault on southern Israel.

With the circulation of support into Gaza constrained by the warfare raging once more after a quick truce final month, Lazzarini mentioned there was a “complete discrepancy between the few vans” being permitted to enter the enclave with support supplies and “the immensity of the wants.”

“The one approach to reverse that’s to usher in, at scale, meaningfully, the human help and the industrial items,” he mentioned, renewing a selected name for Israel to open its Kerem Shalom crossing south of Rafah.

“It is a crossing which may be very nicely geared up for inspections,” Lazzarini mentioned on the Egyptian facet of the Gaza border. “It is a crossing which was once used earlier than October seventh, processing a whole lot of vans every day, processing a whole lot of business vans and, certainly, it is a crossing that we’re asking to be opened.”

In a message shared Monday on social media, UNRWA mentioned it was “on the snapping point,” and added that if the company did stop operations, “humanitarian support that nearly a whole inhabitants of Gaza is dependent upon, can even collapse.”

Individually, nearly two dozen U.N. ambassadors have been on an off-the-cuff journey sponsored by the United Arab Emirates and Egypt to go to the Egyptian facet of the Rafah crossing Monday.

“What we noticed and heard right now confirms that one single border crossing is critically inadequate. We want sustained entry via a number of routes, together with the ocean route, and we have to decrease delays within the entry of support via a strong and streamlined monitoring mechanism,” UAE Ambassador Lana Nusseibeh advised CBS Information on Monday. 

The U.N. ambassadors visited only a day earlier than the Basic Meeting was scheduled to vote on a non-binding decision calling for a cease-fire, just like the one vetoed by the U.S. within the Safety Council, which might have been binding below worldwide regulation.

Within the meantime, undaunted by the more and more pressing requires a brand new cease-fire, Israel continued with the army operation it has vowed will destroy Hamas.

An Israeli airstrike obliterated a household house within the southern Gaza metropolis of Khan Younis. And Nasser hospital, the largest in southern Gaza, was left overflowing with the lifeless, the injured, and scores of oldsters and kids — many who had fled their properties within the north, as they have been instructed to do by Israel’s army — grappling with loss and grief.

The Ministry of Well being in Hamas-ruled Gaza mentioned 208 folks have been killed in Israeli strikes Monday alone, and plenty of extra have been believed to be trapped below the rubble of destroyed buildings. In keeping with the ministry, which doesn’t discern between civilian and militant deaths in Gaza, greater than 18,000 folks have been killed within the Palestinian territory for the reason that warfare began on Oct. 7.

There’s been extra anguish in Israel, too, together with in Jerusalem as folks gathered for the funeral of a soldier killed in Gaza. There’s been extra anxiousness, as nicely, as one other rocket fired from Gaza landed within the Tel Aviv suburbs Monday morning, damaging flats and several other automobiles.

Regardless of Israel’s grinding offensive, Hamas nonetheless has the power to hit the nation, and it tries daily.

CBS Information’ Ahmed Shawkat and Pamela Falk contributed to this report.