Israeli-Palestinian conflict
April 28, 2024
09:40
Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner general of UNRWA: “We know that among the dead there are 13 thousand children. We know that more children have died in Gaza in six months than in all the world’s conflicts in the last four years.”
The number of children who have died in Gaza is “unprecedented and disconcerting”: Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), told Tass in a statement. exclusive interview. “Over 30 thousand people have died in six months”, a number that Lazzarini considers plausible, perhaps even underestimated. “I am not sure that this number covers all those who are still under the rubble. In reality, the death toll could be even higher or disproportionately higher.” And then he continued: “We know that among the dead there are 13 thousand children. We know that more children have died in Gaza in six months than in all the conflicts in the world in the last four years. So a toll that is unprecedented and disconcerting, both in terms of size and level of destruction.”
In Gaza a little girl died due to extreme heat
It’s not just the Israeli missiles, nor the deprivation of food, water and medicines. The extreme heat, which is significantly worsening the health crisis, is also making the living conditions of around 1.7 million Palestinians in the city of Rafah catastrophic. According to what was reported yesterday by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), a little girl died due to the excessively high temperatures that hit the Palestinian enclave: in recent days the mercury column has reached and sometimes exceeded 37 degrees centigrade, making the small tents in which the refugees live hot. An 18-year-old girl also lost her life due to the heat: Lara al-Sayigh, this is the girl’s name, had obtained permission to leave the Gaza Strip but she lost her life before arriving at the Rafah crossing.
In summer the risk of epidemics increases
The humanitarian organizations present in Gaza are worried about what could happen in the summer months, when temperatures will rise further, favoring, in addition to dehydration, also the spread of infectious diseases and epidemics: “With the arrival of summer, a perfect atmosphere is being created for all types of germs. And, of course, the heat will favor the propagation of water- and airborne diseases,” warned Abdelrahman Al Tamimi, director general of the Palestine Hydrology Group, a non-profit organization that focuses on water and sanitation issues in the Palestinian territories.
