The new UN emergency relief coordinator, Tom Fletcher, has warned that crime in the Gaza Strip is out of control, DPA reported, BTA reported.
“We are now witnessing both a breakdown in law and order and the systematic looting of our supplies by local gangs“, Fletcher, who is on a visit to the Middle East, said this morning. According to him, it is almost impossible for even some of the necessary aid to reach the conflict-ridden Palestinian territory and he warned that living conditions in the coastal strip are almost unbearable.
The northern part of the Gaza Strip has been under virtual siege for more than two months and the UN says there is a risk of famine there. Since October 6, Israel has rejected almost 100 UN requests for aid deliveries, said Fletcher, who heads the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. He said Israel continues to target densely populated areas with disastrous consequences: "The continued intensity of the violence means that there is no safe place for civilians in Gaza."
"Schools, hospitals and civilian infrastructure have been reduced to rubble," he added. Israel insists that enough aid is reaching the Gaza Strip, but says the UN is failing to distribute it. According to international legal experts, such as those from the UN International Court of Justice, the Gaza Strip is occupied territory and therefore Israel is responsible for maintaining order there, DPA reported.
The International Committee of the Red Cross says Israel has a duty to ensure that people have everything they need. Israel, however, is not considered an occupying power, as its armed forces withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005. Israel has been fighting the Palestinian militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip since a bloody attack on October 7, 2023, in which 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 were kidnapped. The ensuing conflict has devastated the coastal strip, and according to Palestinian authorities, the death toll is more than 45,200.