A spokesman for the UN agency said on Tuesday that living conditions in Gaza were such that young men told UNICEF they hoped to “be killed” in order to put an end to this “nightmare.”
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Speaking via video from Rafah, the spokesman for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), James Elder, said that the situation in Gaza has reached “the world’s darkest chapters” in human history.
“Yesterday, UNICEF sat with teenagers, many of whom said they were in such despair that they wanted this nightmare to end so badly (that) they hoped they would be killed,” he said during a regular UN press conference. .
He added: “The unspeakable is regularly told in Gaza.”
The war between Israel and Hamas broke out as a result of an unprecedented large-scale attack launched by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas on October 7 from the Gaza Strip.
As the Gaza Strip, besieged by Israel, teeters on the brink of famine, calls have increased for Israel to open more crossing points into the Palestinian territories. According to the United Nations, before the war, at least 500 trucks entered there every day, and there are about 150 today.
The spokesman for the United Nations Office for Humanitarian Affairs, Jens Laerke, noted during the press conference that the Israelis “have the right to control and inspect every gram, every liter, every kilo of everything that enters Gaza.”
“But they can’t say, ‘Once (aid) gets into (Gaza), it’s just up to us to take care of it,’” he added. “They have to create an enabling environment that allows us to provide aid,” he said.
A UNICEF spokesman said that between 1 and 22 March, a quarter of the 40 humanitarian aid missions in northern Gaza were rejected.
“There is an old crossing point that can be used in the north, 10 minutes from where these people are begging for food. 10 minutes away. By opening this crossing, we can end this humanitarian crisis within days,” he protested.
He concluded that in Gaza, “vital aid is being hindered, lives are being lost, and dignity is being violated.”
