OCHA: “Israel” is sentencing displaced civilians in Gaza to death
Olga Cherevko, spokesperson for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said today, Saturday, that “Israel has sentenced the city of Gaza to death and that Palestinians now face two harsh choices: either leave the city or face death.”
Cherevko affirmed during a press conference via video link from Deir al-Balah in the Gaza Strip with journalists at UN headquarters in New York that “hundreds of thousands of exhausted and terrified civilians have been forced to flee to overcrowded areas, where even small animals barely have space to move.”
Early Saturday, Israeli warplanes dropped leaflets obliging residents to evacuate large neighborhoods in western Gaza, including southern Al-Rimal, Sheikh Ajleen, Tal al-Hawa and Gaza Port, directing them southward via Al-Rashid Street.
The UN spokesperson stressed that “conditions in Gaza are catastrophic and require urgent decisions,” adding: “We need voices that stop the bombing and actions that stop the bleeding.”
She emphasized the importance of unhindered humanitarian access across all crossings, including the northern one, saying: “The people of Gaza are not asking for charity; they are demanding their right to live in safety, dignity and peace.”
Cherevko explained that the UN has a distribution network of more than 400 centers covering different areas of the Strip to ensure aid reaches all groups, including those unable to move, in addition to operating kitchens and bakeries to support the population.
She criticized the so-called “Gaza Humanitarian Relief Foundation” supported by “Israel” and the United States, stressing that the fundamental difference is that the UN mechanism seeks to avoid exposing civilians to further danger, unlike that entity which forces people toward militarized hazardous areas.
Since May 27, the Israeli side began imposing a distribution mechanism through this controversial U.S. organization — rejected by the UN — whose centers have become death traps at whose doors thousands of starving people have fallen while waiting for aid.