UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- The departing chief of the UN humanitarian office for the Occupied Palestinian Territory said on Thursday he witnessed the complete exhaustion of civilians in the last 10 months.
Andrea De Domenico, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Occupied Palestinian Territory branch, said that over the past 10 months, he has seen the "absolute physical and psychological exhaustion of an entire population."
De Domenico told reporters during a video conference from East Jerusalem that he saw the systematic dehumanization of civilians in Gaza and the West Bank. He also expressed concern over growing anger toward Israel and the threat of anti-Semitism.
"The danger for me, and actually for any one of our colleagues that have bravely decided to go to work in Gaza -- UN, NGOs (non-governmental organizations) and national staff that have been always on the front line -- and for the entire humanity, is that we are becoming immune to horror," he said. "We cannot allow this to happen."
Israeli authorities decided not to renew De Domenico's visa, which expired on Thursday, said Stephane Dujarric, chief spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
OCHA said the hostilities, repeated evacuation orders, access impediments and other challenges hamper efforts to reach Gazans with life-saving assistance.
The humanitarians said the World Food Programme (WFP) and other agencies report being unable to get enough food into and around Gaza. There are not enough border crossings, convoy authorizations within Gaza are difficult, holding areas often experience long delays, and a lack of public order and safety continues to hamper movements.
The office said more than 20 WFP food distribution points were lost due to recent evacuation orders. Kitchens and bakeries were forced to relocate. The escalation of hostilities also rendered two warehouses unusable for the time and cut off parts of Salah El Din, the main road in Gaza, limiting WFP's ability to deliver across the Gaza Strip.
"In response to last week's evacuation order issued in Khan Younis, WFP is distributing one food parcel per family to support displaced people, reaching about 8,000 families so far," OCHA said. "With increased needs and limited stocks, the agency has to reduce rations to one parcel per family to ensure people get food to meet their most basic needs. But it is not enough."
The office said only 12 of 18 bakeries in Gaza are operating: four in Gaza City, two in northern Gaza, and six in Deir al Balah. Bakeries in middle areas only have enough fuel to operate for a few days.
OCHA said despite all these challenges, WFP reached nearly 1.2 million people with food, wheat flour, or hot meals last month, although with reduced and irregular rations.
The office said that UN humanitarian partners reported working on water, sanitation and hygiene problems. They are concerned over the destruction of the Canada reservoir in Rafah. The facility, with a holding capacity of 3,000 cubic meters of water, was blown up last week. Until recently, the reservoir had served thousands of displaced people who were sheltering in Rafah.
OCHA said that its humanitarian partners warn that the reservoir's destruction could hinder the return of residents to Rafah and further push families to resort to drinking unsafe water, risking dehydration, malnutrition and diseases.
OCHA said the UN relief agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, launched a back-to-learning program for children in Gaza. In its first phase, UNRWA will expand ongoing psychosocial support activities, focusing on arts, music and sports and raising awareness of the risks of explosive ordnance. It will then transition to include informal learning activities, with reading, writing and math lessons.
UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said the program is the first step on a much longer road, focusing on activities to give children a refuge from the horrors they continue to live through and to reconnect with the childhood the conflict robbed. ■
