The United Nations announced today (Saturday) that it had observed “significant increases” in diseases and infectious conditions among the displaced within the Gaza Strip, who numbered more than 1.7 million people.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a statement that nearly 80 percent of the population of the Gaza Strip have become internally displaced, noting that approximately 896,000 displaced people live in 99 facilities in the center and south of the Strip.
The statement continued that due to overcrowding and poor sanitary conditions in United Nations shelters, significant increases have been observed in some infectious diseases and conditions such as diarrhea, acute respiratory infections, skin infections, and hygiene-related conditions such as lice.
He stressed that the displacement process from Gaza City and the northern Gaza Strip is still continuing towards the south, noting that about 400 Palestinians have been displaced during the past 24 hours through a corridor designated by the Israeli army along Salah al-Din Road.
The statement quoted displaced Palestinians as saying that the main reason that forced them and their families to leave Gaza and its north was “hunger,” in light of not receiving any food aid for weeks.
In addition, Palestinian sources said that a number of aid trucks were able to reach the northern Gaza Strip, but they were not sufficient to help the population.
For its part, the Gaza Municipality appealed to the United Nations, the Red Cross and international organizations to intervene urgently to bring in fuel and coordinate municipal crews to enable them to transfer and transport the accumulated waste to the main landfill in Juhr al-Dik, east of the Gaza Strip.
The municipality said in a statement, "The continued accumulation of waste will deepen the residents' suffering and exacerbate the environmental, health and humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza City."
