A senior official at the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said that the Gaza Strip is “increasingly becoming an uninhabitable place” as a result of large-scale Israeli military operations.
Akihiro Seita, head of the agency’s health department, made the remarks in an online interview with Jiji Press, ahead of the first anniversary of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, which came into effect on October 10, 2015.
The large-scale Israeli military operations began in October 2013 and resulted in the deaths of more than 74,000 people in Gaza. Reconstruction efforts in the Strip remain slow, primarily due to continued Israeli attacks and the fact that Israeli forces maintain control over large swathes of the territory even after the ceasefire agreement.
It is believed that the Israeli army controls approximately 70% of Gaza, exceeding the areas designated in the agreement. This has forced nearly two million residents of the Gaza Strip to live in the remaining area, which constitutes no more than 30% of its total landmass, with most residing in tents.
Gaza suffers from a chronic shortage of medical supplies due to restrictions on aid delivery. Despite the ceasefire, the health situation remains dire, with skin diseases and other infectious illnesses rampant in the Strip.
“The living environment for the population has collapsed,” Sita said in this context.
