NEW YORK, July 31 (KUNA) -- UN top humanitarian chief Valerie Amos and UNRWA Commissioner General Pierre Krahenbuhl on Thursday said the desperate situation in Gaza has reached unprecedented levels, amid Palestinian accusation that what is happening in Gaza is "genocide."
Addressing the Security Council via video link from Trinidad and Tobago during an open meeting called for by Jordan, on behalf of the Arab Group currently chaired by Kuwait, to brief on the humanitarian situation in Gaza, Amos urged the 15 members to help the parties find peace.
"We need the violence to stop and the root causes of the conflict to be addressed. The people of Gaza want to live in safety, security, and dignity. The people of Israel want the same thing. I hope the international community can help them to achieve it," she said.
She called for a longer-term ceasefire, but until it is agreed, "we need more humanitarian pauses to enable us to reach those in need. Pauses must be daily, predictable, and adequate in length" so that humanitarian staff can do their job and the people can restock and resupply their homes.
She said that under international humanitarian law, the Government of Israel, Hamas and other militant groups "must distinguish between military objectives and civilian objects and between combatants and civilians."
She argued that the current crisis in Gaza takes place against the backdrop of decades of instability, poverty and vulnerability resulting from repeated outbreaks of hostilities and the ongoing blockade on land, air and sea.
She said more than 1,300 Palestinians have been killed, mostly civilians, including 251 children, and over 6,000 were injured; on the Israeli side 59 people were killed, including three civilians; and some 440,000 Gazans are now displaced, including 240,000 being hosted in UNRWA schools.
She added that more than 9,000 homes have been destroyed or damaged; more than 130 schools and other educational facilities have also sustained damage; 24 medical facilities have been damaged; Gaza's only power plant was struck; and water and sewage systems are also severely damaged.
Palestinian Ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour later told reporters that what is happening in Gaza is "genocide," accusing the Council of "failing us," and warning that the longer the Council delays acting on a resolution on the matter, the more casualties will fall, insisting that its statements are not enough.
Amos complained that the relief effort is stretched, and the "ongoing fighting is hampering our ability to move around," appealing for more funds. "I ask Member States to respond quickly and generously to the appeals. We cannot provide adequate assistance without an urgent injection of funds," she warned.
Addressing the same Council meeting via telephone from Gaza which he visited for the second time since the conflict erupted almost a month ago, UNRWA Commissioner General Krahenbuhl said what he witnessed "devastated me."
He said the Palestinian children he saw today in overcrowded hospitals "are not statistics... Behind every death and injury there is a story and a dignity to be respected," and many people in Gaza complained to him that the world "has failed us, has failed to protect us.
"It is past time for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire to be agreed by the parties," he stressed, adding that a ceasefire "is not enough. It is not conceivable to simply return to the situation existing before this conflict... The illegal blockade of Gaza must be lifted."
Gaza, home to 1.8 million people, will be "unlivable in a matter of only a few years," he warned, "unless urgent steps are taken from the international community to enable the development of Gaza and ensure security for all in the region."
On the discovery of rockets in UNRWA schools, he said it "should not in any way justify attacks on UNRWA facilities now sheltering 220,000 internally displaced persons," approximately four times more than during the peak number during the 2008-2009 conflict.
He said he received "with alarm" instructions from the Israeli military to Palestinians to evacuate the Zeitoun area of Gaza city, in the vicinity of Khan Younes, warning that the new reality being created in the occupied Palestinian territory "is not sustainable under any circumstances.
"I appeal to the international community to take the steps necessary to address this extreme situation. Should further displacement occurs, the occupying power, according to international humanitarian law, will have to assume direct responsibility to protect these people," he urged. (end)
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