“Simply put - we do not have the necessary conditions in the Gaza Strip for a robust humanitarian response,” UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said in a statement issued in the wake of an attack on one of the agency’s vehicles and the latest Israeli evacuation order in Khan Younis.
Ms. Russell began by highlighting the dire conditions in Gaza, where “with each passing week, families face new horrors”.
She said devastating attacks on schools and sites housing displaced people continue, reportedly killing hundreds more Palestinians and further straining the already overburdened hospitals in the enclave.
“We see children who withstood previous injuries only to be hurt again. Doctors and nurses with no resources, struggling to save lives. Thousands of boys and girls sick, hungry, injured, or separated from their families,” she said.
“The violence and deprivation are leaving permanent scars on their vulnerable bodies and minds. And now, with a breakdown in sanitation and sewage treatment, the polio virus joins the list of threats, especially for the thousands of unvaccinated children.”
