Gaza (UNA/QNA) – Alexander de Crowe, Director of the United Nations Development Programme, said that the situation in the Gaza Strip is one of the greatest humanitarian disasters of the current era, stressing that UN agencies are capable of providing the solutions that Palestinians desperately need if they are allowed to expand their access to the Strip.
During his visit to the Gaza Strip, the UN official described the situation there as one of the greatest man-made tragedies of our time, stressing that one cannot help but feel deep sadness at the extreme misery that Palestinians are suffering in their attempt to survive, as families and children live in one of the greatest man-made tragedies of our time.
De Croo had arrived in the Gaza Strip, his first official visit since taking office last November. The visit included a local factory in Gaza that produces food products, supported by the UN program, camps for displaced Palestinians, and supported local projects. He also visited the popular Firas market area, which was turned into a garbage dump during the war, and the site of the UNDP's program for recycling rubble and debris from destroyed buildings.
Regarding his assessment of the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, he affirmed in exclusive statements to the Qatar News Agency (QNA) that one cannot help but feel sorrow at the extreme misery that has befallen people in trying to survive under these conditions. He added, “Families and children are forced to live in one of the greatest man-made tragedies of our time, but I see a great desire for joint action between the residents of Gaza, civil society organizations, UN agencies, and non-governmental organizations such as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).”
He stressed that now is the time to move from words to deeds and action, calling for the UN program to be given access so that it can provide more housing units to people who desperately need them.
He added, “Everyone sees the enormous housing needs. More than 300,000 families in Gaza are looking for shelter, and only 10 percent of the population living in Gaza today has housing that meets basic needs.”
He explained that this means that 90 percent of the population is currently looking for housing, and we have seen the extremely difficult conditions that people are forced to live in or survive in light of this man-made disaster that is happening here. He stressed, “Our demand is very clear: give us access so that we can build more relief housing units.”
Referring to the special housing units needed in the Gaza Strip, Crowe said that the UN program had managed to find 500 “relief housing units,” explaining that thousands of such units could easily be found, but what was needed was accessibility.
The UN official called for allowing UN agencies to expand their access to the Gaza Strip, saying: “Our demand is very clear, give us access so that we can build more units. There is no justification for not allowing us to enter to build homes that provide people with basic housing needs.”
He stressed that UN agencies need to expand their access to the Gaza Strip in three areas: removing rubble and waste due to their enormous danger to people’s lives and health, providing relief housing instead of the primitive tents in which people are forced to live, and delivering medical equipment to help people meet their health needs while evacuating those in dire need of medical care outside the Gaza Strip.
Regarding any plans to bring mobile caravans into the Gaza Strip, Crowe said, “The difficulty today lies in accessibility. The question is not, ‘Are we able? Do we have the money and equipment?’ We have the people, the funding, and the equipment, but what we lack is accessibility.” He questioned why this essential equipment for providing housing was being prevented from reaching Gaza. “There is no justification for not allowing the provision of basic housing to help people who are in dire need.”
He stressed that what the United Nations is doing by introducing special housing units for the recovery phase is a first step to improving living conditions, compared to the very primitive ways in which people are currently forced to live under tarpaulins and poles, considering that the basic plan is to rebuild Gaza and construct it with real homes.
The UN official stressed that this cannot happen without a Palestinian leadership, and this is very clear to us; there must be a Palestinian leadership in the Gaza reconstruction process.
The Gaza Strip has been living through a continuous humanitarian tragedy since the Israeli entity launched a war of genocide against it on October 7, 2023, destroying all the foundations of social, economic and health life, killing more than 72,000 Palestinians and injuring more than 171,000 others, amidst unprecedented destruction of infrastructure and the health sector, and hospitals going out of service due to Israeli targeting.
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