UN: Aid program in Gaza 'no longer functioning'

(Patria) - The United Nations humanitarian program in Gaza is 'no longer functioning', said UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths, the BBC reported this morning.

'There is no way out for the people of Gaza. As a result, hope for the future is, at best, in the first place,' he said. The notion that there is no safe place in Gaza also applies to humanitarian operations, Griffiths said.

'(This) means that if you plan a humanitarian delivery in Gaza today, you must plan for the likelihood that it will be interrupted, that it could be attacked, that it could be looted, that it could be stopped, redirected, that it might not succeed,' he said.

Calling for an urgent ceasefire, Griffiths said the destruction of the health system in Gaza also means that diseases among the people will only become more widespread.

'In Gaza today there are two horsemen of the apocalypse – conflict, of course, but also disease. And that will only get worse, because we are unable to supply hospitals, any safe water desalination, and so on and so forth,' Griffiths said.

'All (signs) indicate that everything is going in the wrong direction,' he added.