UN agencies call for lasting peace in Gaza to avoid catastrophe

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has said that Gaza has become “one of the most dangerous places” in the world, amid the ongoing brutal Israeli attacks on the besieged Palestinian enclave.

"The entire Gaza Strip has become one of the most dangerous places in the world," UNRWA said in a statement on X on Wednesday.

UNRWA also said "there is nowhere to go as shelters" in Gaza, adding that its shelters are “overflowing" with displaced Palestinian people.

On Monday, UNRWA said that over 85 percent of the Gaza population are currently displaced — nearly 1.9 million of the total 2.3 million people — and that almost 1.2 million internally displaced persons were sheltering in its 156 installations.

'Looming' catastrophe

For its part, the UN food agency said that only a lasting peace can avert the “looming humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza.

“The resumption of hostilities in Gaza will only intensify the catastrophic hunger crisis that already threatens to overwhelm the civilian population,” the World Food Program (WFP) said in a statement on Tuesday.

At least 16,248 Palestinians have been killed and more than 43,616 others injured in relentless air and ground attacks on the enclave since Oct. 7 following a surprise attack by Hamas.

The Israeli death toll in the Hamas attack stood at 1,200, according to official figures.

Doubling distribution points

Israel resumed its military offensive on the Palestinian territory on Friday after the end of a weeklong humanitarian pause with the Palestinian resistance group Hamas.

The WFP said that during the humanitarian pause, it was able to double the number of distribution points outside shelters and deliver food in places that had been “impossible to reach.”

The UN food agency reached approximately 250,000 people in just one week, the statement added.

It said that the renewed fighting makes the distribution of aid “almost impossible and endangers the lives of humanitarian workers.”

“Above all, it is a disaster for the civilian population of Gaza, more than 2 million people, whose only lifeline is food assistance,” WFP said.

“Humanitarians must have safe, unimpeded, and sustained access, so we are able to distribute life-saving assistance throughout the territory. All parties must uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law,” it added.

Calling for a humanitarian cease-fire, WFP urged “all leaders to work with the utmost urgency to find political solutions that can end the suffering of families on all sides of this harrowing conflict.”