The heads of 15 United Nations aid agencies and private groups called for an immediate end to fighting in the Gaza Strip in a joint statement on Friday, warning that the entire population of northern Gaza is at risk of dying.
They said the situation in the north of the coastal strip, where the Israeli army launched a new ground offensive against the Islamist organization Hamas in early October, is particularly dramatic.
“The entire Palestinian population in northern Gaza is at immediate risk of death from disease, famine and violence,” said the statement, published by the UN Standing Committee.
Signatories included the heads of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the UN Children’s Fund, the World Health Organization, the World Food Program and the aid agency Oxfam.
They said a permanent ceasefire was long overdue. “The entire region is on the brink of collapse.”
