“People are stopping aid trucks, taking the food, and eating it right away. This is how desperate and hungry they are. I witnessed this firsthand,” stated Philippe Lazzarini, the Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA). He warned of escalating levels of “alarming” hunger that Gaza has never experienced before.
This statement was made in a speech published by UNRWA on its “X” platform.
Lazzarini added in the same speech posted by UNRWA on its “X” platform: “Everywhere you look, is congested with makeshift shelters. Everywhere you go, people are desperate, hungry and terrified..”
He continued: “Hunger is something people in Gaza have never ever known before. But hunger has now emerged over the last few weeks and we meet more and more people who haven’t eaten for one, two or three days.”
In the same context, Lazzarini said he is “horrified”, due to the “smear campaigns” targeting Palestinians and those who provide aid to them.
The UN official said, “As Commissioner General of UNRWA, I have experienced this more than once since our Agency is also one of the targets in this war.”
As of Friday, the genocidal war launched by the Israeli occupation on Gaza since October 7th has resulted in 18,800 victims and 51,000 injuries, mostly among children and women, along with massive destruction of infrastructure and an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe.
At the start of the war, the occupation cut off all supplies of electricity, water, fuel, and food to the people of Gaza, bombarded bakeries, factories, stores, and water stations, and destroyed infrastructure.
The Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip constitutes a blatant violation of international humanitarian law and human rights, endangering the lives and property of civilians and causing them severe suffering. This requires urgent and decisive intervention from the international community to stop the aggression and protect civilians in the region.
