UN warns order 'starting to break down' as Israel pounds Gaza

AP , Sunday 29 Oct 2023

Desperate Palestinians in Gaza burst into aid centres after more than three weeks of siege and bombardment, the UN said on Sunday, as Israel escalated ground operations in the strip.


Gaza

 

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the situation was "growing more desperate by the hour" as casualties increase and essential supplies of food, water, medicine and shelter shrink.

UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, UNRWA, said "thousands of people" broke into several of its warehouses and distribution centres in Gaza, grabbing basic survival items like wheat flour and hygiene supplies.

"This is a worrying sign that civil order is starting to break down," it said

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and French President Emmanuel Macron underlined Sunday the importance of shipping urgent humanitarian support into the Gaza Strip, the UK government said.

Panic and fear have surged inside the Gaza Strip, where the UN says more than half of its 2.4 million residents are displaced and thousands of buildings were destroyed.

Despite calls for a humanitarian ceasefire, international outrage and the potential risk to captives held in Gaza, Israel has intensified its war in the strip.

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