‘The smell of death is everywhere’ in Gaza: UNRWA
The head of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, issued an urgent plea for a pause in the fighting in northern Gaza to allow humanitarian aid to reach civilians trapped there.
In a post on X, Lazzarini said UNRWA staff reported that they were unable to find food, water or medicine in the war-battered region.
“The smell of death is everywhere as bodies are left lying on the roads or under the rubble. Missions to clear the bodies or provide humanitarian assistance are denied.”
Lazzarini called for an “immediate truce, even only for a few hours” to allow safe passage for families seeking refuge.
“This is the bare minimum to save the lives of civilians who have nothing to do with this conflict,” he said.
Israel laid siege to north Gaza more than two weeks ago and has been attacking everyone left in the area ferociously since, resulting in the deaths of many civilians.
Assault in northern Gaza
xIsrael launched the assault in northern Gaza on October 6, claiming it aimed to stop Hamas from regrouping.
Hamas resistance group has called on the international community to take immediate action “to stop the crime of forced displacement, ethnic cleansing and massacres” carried out by Israel in northern Gaza.
The Palestinian group said the Israeli occupation army has been “besieging schools and hospitals, committing massacres against defenseless and displaced citizens, and carrying out the most heinous forced displacement operation live on air and in full view of the entire world.”
It also called Israel’s practices “a blatant violation of all laws, regulations and norms, and would not have been passed without the silence and inaction of the international community, and the complicit behavior of the US administration.”
According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, more than 40 Palestinians were killed in Israel’s attacks on Gaza on Tuesday. Thirty-seven of them were killed in northern Gaza.
Munir al-Bursh, the director of the Gaza Health Ministry, who is currently in northern Gaza, said, “Many of the wounded have died before our eyes, and we couldn’t do anything for them.”
No coffin for dead
“Hospitals also ran out of coffins to prepare the dead, and we have asked people to donate any fabric they have at home,” Al-Bursh said in a statement.
The Israeli military besieged hospitals and shelters for displaced people on Monday, preventing critical aid from reaching civilians, residents and medics said.
Troops rounded up men and ordered women to leave the Jabalia historic refugee camp, they said. An Israeli airstrike on a house in Jabalia killed five people and wounded several others, medics said.
Medics at the Indonesian Hospital said that Israeli troops stormed a school and detained the men before setting it ablaze.
Later on Monday, Hussam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital said at least two critically wounded patients at the facility’s intensive care unit died due to the lack of medical supplies.
“The hospital’s blood units have run out completely... We are implementing a priority treatment method for patients. This is the reality,” said Abu Safiya in a video message to media outlets.
At least 42,718 Palestinians – mostly women and children – have been killed and 100,282 wounded in Israeli attacks since October 7, 2023.