By IRNA
Gaza City : United Nations Undersecretary General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes said on Friday that humanitarian situation in Gaza is alarming.
The World Bank said in a report last month that Israeli blockade of Gaza has worsened the level of unemployment and poverty.
John Holmes, the UN’s top humanitarian affairs official told reporters at UN compound in Gaza City that he was shocked by “grim and miserable” situation he witnessed on a visit to the Gaza Strip.
Holmes said it was the result of Israel closing its border crossings and the “limited food and other materials” allowed in.
He said 80 percent of Gaza’s 1.5 million population now depended on food aid.
As part of a four-day visit to Israel and the Palestinian Territories, Holmes toured the Shifa Hospital, the largest in the Gaza Strip.
“I have been shocked by the grim and miserable things I have seen and heard about during the day.”
What is essentially needed is an opening of the crossings, a lot more goods coming in, he said.
“They are the result of the current restrictions on the crossings into Gaza, and the very limited amounts of foods and other materials being allowed in.”
Holmes, who is also the UN’s emergency relief coordinator, said the level of goods entering Gaza had dropped to 10 percent of what it was a year ago.
He said the Israeli restrictions had led to the collapse of the territory’s economy, which in turn caused widespread unemployment and poverty. As a result, some 80 percent of Gazans now depended on food aid, he added.
“All this makes for a grim human and humanitarian situation here in Gaza, which means that people are not able to live with the basic dignity to which they are entitled,” he said.
“So what is essentially needed is an opening of the crossings, a lot more goods coming in.”