Gaza tensions flare over dwindling supplies as blockade persists

GENEVA: Fights are erupting over dwindling supplies in Gaza, a United Nations aid official said on Friday, as Israel’s total blockade on supplies into the enclave hit the two-month mark.

Since March 2, Israel has completely cut off all supplies to the 2.3 million residents of the Gaza Strip, and food stockpiled during a ceasefire at the start of the year has all but run out.

It is the longest such closure the Gaza Strip has ever faced. Palestinian residents and aid officials said at least five incidents of looting took place across the enclave on Wednesday.

Olga Cherevko, an aid worker with the UN humanitarian office (OCHA) in Gaza City, said that inter-communal violence over supplies had intensified.

She told reporters she witnessed one such fight on Friday.

Also read: UN eyes major overhaul amid funding crisis, internal memo shows

“Supplies are becoming depleted while the war rages on; food stocks have now mainly run out,” she told a press conference in Geneva via video link. “Water access has become impossible. In fact, as I speak to you, just below, downstairs from this building, people are fighting for water. There’s a water truck that has just arrived, and people are killing each other over water.”

Some aid groups say they have already run out of food stocks in the past week and community kitchens are at risk of closure. The Red Cross said the humanitarian response in Gaza was on the verge of “total collapse”.

Israel has previously denied that Gaza is facing a hunger crisis and says there is still enough aid to sustain the population.

Cherevko said hungry people were scavenging in mounds of waste for “anything that would help them survive”.

“I am seeing children and I’m seeing elderly people rummaging through these piles of trash, not only in search of things to burn, but also things to eat daily,” she said.

Also read: South Korea’s latest acting president vows to ensure stability until election