Reuters
[Source: Reuters]
Thousands of Gaza residents broke into U.N. warehouses on Sunday, grabbing flour and other essential items in a sign they had reached “breaking point”, the United Nations Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) said.
One of the warehouses, located in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, is where UNRWA stores supplies delivered by humanitarian convoys crossing into Gaza from Egypt.
Footage from Khan Younis in southern Gaza showed men frantically carrying boxes and large bags out of a warehouse, hoisting them onto their shoulders or loading them onto their bicycles.
Speaking to Reuters from Amman in Jordan, Juliette Touma, UNRWA’s director of communications, said the scenes at the warehouses and distribution centres showed people’s despair.
Aid supplies to Gaza have been choked since Israel began bombarding the densely populated Palestinian enclave in response to a deadly attack by its ruling militant group Hamas on Oct. 7.
Touma said UNRWA had been forced to reduce the scale of its humanitarian operation in the densely populated enclave because it could not distribute fuel to some medical facilities. She said UNRWA had not received any additional supplies on Sunday.
UNRWA has said its ability to help people in Gaza has been completely stretched by air strikes that have killed dozens of its staff and restricted the movement of supplies.
Even before the conflict, the organisation had said its operations were being jeopardised due to a lack of funding.
Established in 1949 following the first Arab-Israeli war, UNRWA provides public services including schools, healthcare and humanitarian aid in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.
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