Jerusalem, Undefined – The head of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, Philippe Lazzarini, warned Wednesday of the bleak future facing Gazans after the war between Hamas and Israel ends.
Following his fourth visit to the Palestinian territory since the war erupted on October 7, the UNRWA chief said many residents are no longer able to see “the future in the Gaza Strip”.
“You have hundreds of thousands of people living now in the street, living in these plastic makeshift (tents), sleeping on the concrete,” Lazzarini told journalists in Jerusalem.
The majority of Gaza’s 2.4 million residents have been forced from their homes, while Lazzarini said more than 60 percent of buildings are estimated to be damaged.
The most extensive Israeli bombardment has hit the north, where AFP journalists have witnessed scores of residential blocks reduced to rubble.
“The north for us is a pocket of humanitarian catastrophe,” the UNRWA chief said.
“Would you even encourage anyone to go to the north when we know the north is infested by UXOs — unexploded ordnance — and rubble, and non-functioning services?” he asked.
‘Generation of lost kids’
Fighting has ravaged Gaza since Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attacks on Israel that resulted in the death of about 1,140 people, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
At least 24,448 Palestinians, more than 70 percent of them women, young children and adolescents, have been killed in Israeli bombardments and ground assaults, according to the Gaza health ministry’s latest figures.
While Israel expects the war to rage on for months, half a million children aged six to 14 are estimated to have no access to education.
“My fear is that we have now a generation of lost kids,” said Lazzarini, describing children who are living in “brutal” conditions and are deeply traumatized.
“This should concern all of us if we are talking about future peace and security and cohabitation. The more we wait… the more we take risks for the future,” he said.
Despite months of shuttle diplomacy between the belligerents and their allies, there remains no public plan outlining post-war governance or reconstruction in Gaza.
“When we talk about rebuilding Gaza, it’s not anymore like before, where we had to rehabilitate some shelter and that was still doable,” the UNRWA chief said, referring to previous rounds of fighting which lasted days or weeks.
“I don’t see any country investing significantly in the absence of a solid, proper political project and roadmap,” he said.
“And for this, you need countries to trust in this roadmap.”
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday warned that a “full-fledged confrontation” between Israel and Lebanon would be a “total disaster” amid fears of a wider war.
Addressing the World Economic Forum in the Swiss Alpine resort of Davos, Guterres reiterated his call for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire” in Gaza.
Fighting has ravaged Gaza since Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attacks on Israel.
Since then, the Lebanese-Israeli border has witnessed a near daily exchange of fire between Israel’s army and Lebanon’s Shiite movement Hezbollah, a Hamas ally.
“The spillover that is already taking place, the risk of a full-fledged confrontation in Lebanon, it would be a total disaster. We need to avoid it at all cost,” Guterres said.
Yemeni Houthi rebels have also struck what they consider Israeli-linked shipping in the Red Sea in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza since the war there started on October 7.
The United Nations chief suggested that a ceasefire would help to avoid further chaos.
“What we are seeing in the Red Sea, all this demonstrates that it’s not enough. It’s very important to address the humanitarian situation in Gaza. It’s very important to have a humanitarian ceasefire,” he said.
Guterres repeated his call for an independent Palestinian state to be established.
“I believe that the present situation has demonstrated that the two-state solution is an absolutely central way to solve this problem,” he said.