EXCLUSIVE: UNRWA tells the Canary Israel is still mounting a ‘strangling siege’ on Gaza

Adnan Abu Hasna, media advisor to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), warned in exclusive comments to the Canary of an unprecedented educational and humanitarian disaster in the Gaza Strip, stressing that an entire generation of children is threatened with illiteracy while Israel blocks basic humanitarian aid.

Israel is still laying siege to Gaza

Abu Hasna said that restoring the educational process is a top priority for UNRWA, noting that more than 660,000 students have been deprived of education for two consecutive years due to Israel’s genocide, aggression, and siege, which he described as “the illiteracy of an entire generation”.

He explained that the agency, in cooperation with its partners, will work to resume the educational process even inside temporary shelters, after ensuring that they are free of mines and explosives, and even in new areas:

as was the case in 1950 when UNRWA began its work in Palestine.

With regard to health services, Abu Hasna pointed out that UNRWA’s 22 health centres in Gaza are in urgent need of rehabilitation, stressing that the massive destruction – which affected about 80% of Gaza City’s housing – has forced hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to live in non-residential areas, requiring the continued operation of mobile medical points.

Despite the agency’s comprehensive relief plan and decades of experience, Abu Hasna said that 6,000 of its trucks loaded with aid, including food, tents and medicines, remain stuck at the Gaza border, waiting to be allowed in. This is despite the so-called ceasefire.

He stressed that this aid is sufficient for the population of Gaza for three months, but Israeli restrictions on the crossings prevent its arrival amid what he described as a:

strangling siege.

UNRWA is the last line of defence

Abu Hasna told the Canary:

UNRWA is the only UN agency that remains intact in the Gaza Strip, and there is no alternative but to enable it to play its true role.

He also called for the opening of safe and sustainable corridors for the entry of aid, warning that the continuation of the current situation will lead to the complete collapse of what remains of the basic necessities of life in the Strip.

Featured image via the Canary