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UNRWA Commissioner-General: Dehumanisation of Gaza will not bring peace

May 23, 2018 at 1:11 am

Pierre Krähenbühl, commissioner-general of the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) seen during his visit to Gaza on Janaury 22, 2018 [Middle East Monitor / Mohammad Asad]

UNRWA Commissioner-General Pierre Krähenbühl has warned of the worsening health situation in the Gaza Strip due to the large number of injured protesters during the Return Marches.

Krähenbühl told a news conference held on Tuesday at an UNRWA headquarters in the Gaza Strip that “Gaza is facing a major humanitarian and health disaster that will have great repercussions and endless consequences on the Palestinian society.”

Israeli snipers shoot at Palestinians and Press during protest - Cartoon [Sabaaneh/MiddleEastMonitor]

Israeli snipers shoot at Palestinians and Press during protest – Cartoon [Sabaaneh/MiddleEastMonitor]

He added: “I visited hospitals in Gaza and the visit was very shocking and moving. The world does not really recognize what has happened in the Gaza Strip since the start of the Return Marches on March 30.” He pointed out that, according to his estimations, injuries could push the health system in Gaza to collapse at any moment.

Krähenbühl explained that, through his examination of patients, it was revealed that the Israeli forces used live ammunition to inflict significant damage to the internal organs and bones of the protesters, and deliberately fired on the upper limbs of the demonstrators’ bodies to cause disabilities. He pointed out that the number of the injured in the Return Marches (13 thousand wounded) is more than those injured during the last war on Gaza in 2014.

Krähenbühl said that 70 percent of the Gaza Strip population are refuges, and that a number of them were killed and others injured during the Return Marches, where he listed the number of UNRWA school students who fell in those marches.

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The UNRWA Commissioner made an urgent appeal to the world to save the health sector in Gaza, saying: “Gaza’s dehumanization will not bring peace to the region.”

He stressed that the budget of UNRWA is still suffering a deficit of nearly 200 million dollars and reaffirmed that the priority is for education and that there will be work during the coming period to curb this deficit, and pointed to the existence of initiatives during the month of Ramadan and next July.