World News | UNRWA Says It Sent Advance Team to Egypt to Prepare for Possible Opening of Humanitarian Corridor to Bring Aid Supplies into Gaza

United Nations, Oct 16 (PTI) The UN agency for Palestinian refugees on Monday said it has sent an advance team to Egypt to prepare for a possible opening of a corridor to bring humanitarian aid supplies into the Gaza Strip amidst Israeli bombardment that has displaced over one million people in the Hamas-ruled region.

The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said that heavy Israeli Forces' bombardments of the Gaza Strip have continued, from the air, sea and land, and civilians continue to flee to the southern areas following Israel's warning on Friday to evacuate northern areas.

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With Gaza running out of water, food, fuel and essential medicines, UNRWA said it has sent an advance team to Egypt to prepare for the possible opening of a humanitarian corridor to bring humanitarian aid supplies into the Strip.

Advocacy continues at the highest levels for humanitarian access for pre-positioned critical supplies to cross into Gaza through Rafah, including food, water, medical supplies, fuel and non-food items.

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In a situation report by UNRWA on the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, the agency said people across Gaza have severely limited access to clean drinking water. As a last resort, people are consuming brackish water from agricultural wells, “triggering serious concerns over the spread of waterborne diseases.”

UNRWA in Gaza found some water in local shops, but rations are still down to one litre of water per person per day for the UNRWA teams in the Rafah logistics base to cover drinking and all other needs.

UNRWA said while it continues to run its operations in the West Bank, including schools and health centres, and waste collection in refugee camps, its staff continues to face severe access and movement restrictions, due to closures, checkpoints and road blockages by the Israeli Forces. UNRWA staff are unable to travel to their place of work unless it is in the immediate vicinity.

For the fifth consecutive day, Gaza has had no electricity, pushing vital services, including health, water and sanitation to the brink of collapse, and worsening food insecurity, UNRWA said.

As of October 15, eight UNRWA health centres were operational across Gaza providing primary healthcare services, with estimated supplies of less than one month.

According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health and open sources, in nine days, 2,329 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza (an average of 259 per day, or 11 every hour). The number of people killed in Israel has reached 1,300 and at least 3,621 wounded.

UNRWA said over one million people – almost half the total population of Gaza - have been displaced. Some 600,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) are in the Middle Area, Khan Yunis and Rafah, of those, nearly 400,000 are in UNRWA facilities - “much exceeding our capacity to assist in any meaningful way, including with space in our shelters, food, water or psychological support.”

The UN agency said despite the Israeli Forces' evacuation order, an unknown number of IDPs remain in UNRWA schools in Gaza City and the North. "UNRWA is no longer able to assist or protect them.”

Over 160,000 IDPs were sheltering in 57 UNRWA premises, including - but not only - Designated Emergency Shelters in these areas at the time of the Israeli evacuation order.

As of Sunday, the Palestinian Ministry of Health reported 54 people killed in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem and more than 1,100 injured, since October 7. This number is the highest recorded number of Palestinians killed in a single week since 2017. Most of those were killed on Friday, October 13 when a former Hamas leader called for a day of protests.

Separately, in posts on X, UNRWA said it has received reports that Sunday a group of people with trucks purporting to be from the “Ministry of Health of the de facto authorities” in Gaza, removed fuel and medical equipment from the Agency's compound in Gaza city.

It said UNRWA staff were compelled to evacuate its headquarters in Gaza City on a few hour's notice during the night of October 13. Since then, UNRWA has had no access to the compound and no additional details about the removal of the assets.

“Security cameras that cover the entrance/exit to the @UNRWA compound were damaged further to blasts from the conflict in previous days & ceased to operate,” the agency said, adding that UNRWA “fuel and other types of material are kept for strictly humanitarian purposes - any other use is strongly condemned.”

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)