UNRWA warns Gaza is becoming an increasingly unlivable place

Cairo – Gaza is “becoming an increasingly unlivable place for humans” due to Israel’s large-scale military operations, a senior official from the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has said.

Akihiro Seita, head of the U.N. agency’s health department, was interviewed online, ahead of the one-year anniversary of the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, which came into effect on Oct. 10.

The Israeli military’s large-scale operations began in October 2023 and have left over 74,000 people dead in Gaza. Reconstruction has been slow in the Palestinian territory mainly due to Israeli troops continuing attacks and occupying a vast area of the territory even after the ceasefire agreement.

The Israeli military is believed to have seized control of about 70% of Gaza, expanding beyond the areas agreed by the two sides in the deal. About 2 million Gaza residents have been forced to live in the remaining 30% of the territory, most of them in tents.

Gaza faces persistent shortages of medical supplies due to delivery restrictions. Hygiene conditions also remain dire even under the ceasefire, as the territory has been hit by skin and other infectious diseases. “Residents’ living environment has fallen apart,” Seita said.

Akihiro Seita, head of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East's health department, during an online interview on Sept. 25 | JIJI

While food rations have reached some residents since the deal, Seita said that impoverished residents continue to lack food, and that malnutrition remains an issue.

In August last year, before the ceasefire, famine became a major issue in Gaza City, the center of the Gaza Strip. A follow-up survey by UNRWA found that some infants who had been malnourished during that period showed developmental delays in talking and walking.

“Even though combat has decreased, the children’s plight continues,” Seita said.

According to Seita, the international community’s shift in focus from the Gaza situation to U.S.-Israeli military attacks against Iran, which began in late February this year, has become a major point of concern. The people of Gaza are “worried that no one is willing to help them,” he said.

Although Hamas, which maintains effective control over Gaza, has expressed its willingness to disarm, Israel is doubtful and refuses to withdraw its troops from Gaza. This has made it difficult to implement a Gaza peace plan compiled under the initiative of U.S. President Donald Trump.

The United States has suspended funding for UNRWA, and the organization is excluded from the framework of the peace plan. Nevertheless, it continues to provide aid to Gaza using its organizational strength developed over many years of on-the-ground activities.