UNRWA Chief Calls War The Last Year Turns Gaza Into A Grave

Gazans were displaced by Israeli attacks. (Twitter/@UNLazzarini)

JAKARTA - UNRWA Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini said twelve months of brutal war had turned the Gaza Strip into an unrecognizable ocean of debris and a grave for tens of thousands of people, mostly children.

"One year has passed and no days have passed without families in Gaza experiencingID suffering, due to forced evacuation, disease, hunger, and death has become a daily norm for 2 million people trapped in the enclave that was bombed and surrounded," Lazzarini said in an x post., reported from WAFA October 8th.

"In Gaza, civilians continue to bear the burden of war. More than 220 members of the UNRWA team have died: the highest death toll in the history of the United Nations," he explained.

Lazzarini stressed that children are the first and most suffering parties.

"In addition to murder and injury, every child in Gaza is traumatized, many of which have scars that are not seen for life. More than 650,000 children have lost another year to study. Instead of being in the classroom, they have to fight among the rubble with despair and fear," explained Lazzarini.

Lazzarini warned that important infrastructure destruction in Gaza has also reached a very severe level.

UNRWA Commissioner General added that more than two-thirds of UNRWA buildings in Gaza have been destroyed and deemed unusable, mostly used to protect people displaced under the UN flag.

Separately, Gaza's health authorities announced on Monday that Palestinian deaths in Gaza until yesterday reached 41,909 people, while injuries reached 97,303, with the majority of victims being women and children, since the latest conflict broke out on October 7, 2023.