Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Some Palestinians who left their homes in northern Gaza are starting to return due to the dire situation in the south. They previously left the house because of calls from the Israeli side.
Last week Israel ordered the 1.1 million residents of Gaza City and other northern areas to leave their territory for their own safety.
But UN officials say they are having difficulty finding shelter, food and drinking water in the south.
The director of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) in Gaza, Thomas White, said that most refugees live on just 1 liter (34 fl oz) of water and one or two slices of Arabic bread a day.
The humanitarian crisis, coupled with ongoing attacks on civilian areas in the south, has caused some people to return to the north.
“Basically, people have left everything in the north – their homes, their businesses, their lives. They come to the south where they struggle to find shelter, food is scarce, many people have to drink undrinkable water, so the situation in the south is very bad,” White was quoted as saying BBC.
Although the UN welcomed the arrival of 34 trucks carrying food, water and medical supplies over the weekend, White warned that hundreds more trucks a day were needed to meet Gaza’s needs, especially those carrying fuel.
“Before the conflict, Gaza received around 455 trucks every day, so we still have a long way to go to improve logistics operations,” explained White.
“We have three more days of fuel left in Gaza. This is something Israel needs to allow to enter Gaza, otherwise our aid operations will stall. Desalination plants will start to run out of water. Hospitals will start operating but will have to close their neighborhoods .”
Gaza’s Health Ministry warned that generators at 13 public hospitals were running out of fuel and they were only running the most essential life-saving services, including incubators that helped keep 130 babies alive.
Israel refuses to allow the fuel in, saying it could be stolen and exploited by Hamas for military purposes.
The Hamas-run Health Ministry said hundreds of people had died in the southern region as a result of Israeli airstrikes over the past few days.
Number of Victims
Reporting from Al Jazeera, as many as 5,791 people were reported killed throughout the Gaza Strip since Israel began bombing in response to Hamas attacks on October 7, which killed at least 1,405 people and took 222 hostage. A total of 96 people were reported killed in the West Bank.
Israel has also cut off electricity and most water and stopped imports of food and medicine into Gaza, although it has allowed dozens of aid trucks to pass through Egypt’s Rafah crossing since Saturday.
The UN estimates that nearly two-thirds of Gaza’s population or 1.4 million people have fled their homes over the past two weeks out of fear or because their homes were destroyed or damaged.
[Gambas:Video CNBC]
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