DaysofPal – The UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Housing, Balakrishnan Rajagopal, warned on Tuesday that the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip has reached catastrophic levels, accusing Israel of failing to uphold the terms of the ceasefire agreement.
Rajagopal said in media statements that the world is “standing silent” as Israel continues to block desperately needed humanitarian aid from entering the enclave.
“What is happening in Gaza is a slow annihilation and a level of suffering we have not witnessed in any previous conflict,” he stated.
Despite a ceasefire and prisoner-exchange agreement between Israel and Hamas that formally took effect on October 10, Israel has maintained its siege on the territory, preventing relief supplies from reaching civilians.
In parallel, Adnan Abu Hasna, spokesperson for the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), described the humanitarian crisis as unprecedented. He said that 1.5 million displaced people in Gaza have no shelter to protect them from harsh winter conditions, as Israel continues to deny entry to tents, shelters, and mobile homes despite large stockpiles ready at the border.
“We have thousands of trucks waiting at Gaza’s gates, carrying food supplies that could sustain the Strip for three months, along with hundreds of thousands of tents, blankets, and winter clothing,” Abu Hasna said.
“We only need permission to bring in the tents we purchased for hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
He added that Israel is fully aware that allowing large-scale aid into the Strip would “dramatically improve the situation,” yet instead leaves the response to small organizations and individual influencers, an approach he said signals the collapse of Gaza’s humanitarian system and the failure of relief operations.
Since October 7, 2023, Israeli military operations in Gaza, conducted with U.S. and European backing, have resulted in extreme levels of destruction, displacement, and civilian suffering.
International appeals and orders by the International Court of Justice to halt the devastation have gone unheeded.
More than 241,000 Palestinians have been killed or injured, most of them women and children, according to local health authorities. Over 11,000 people remain missing, many feared trapped under rubble.
Hundreds of thousands face hunger, and numerous deaths, particularly among children, have been linked to escalating famine conditions. Entire neighborhoods and cities across the Strip lie in ruins.
Rajagopal stressed that the refusal to allow large-scale aid delivery, combined with ongoing military restrictions, places Gaza’s population in an impossible situation. “This is not merely a humanitarian crisis,” he said. “It is a complete abandonment of humanitarian responsibility.”
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