UNRWA: Gaza's citizens at breaking point, breaking into our warehouses for food

(Patria) - Thousands of Gaza residents broke into UN warehouses on Sunday, taking flour and other essential food items, a sign they have reached "breaking point," the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) announced.

One of the warehouses, located in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, is where UNRWA stores supplies delivered by humanitarian convoys crossing into Gaza from Egypt.

"This is a worrying sign that civil order is beginning to break down after three weeks of war and a tight siege of Gaza," UNRWA said in a statement.

Speaking to Reuters from Amman, Jordan, Juliette Touma, UNRWA's communications director,
said the scenes at the warehouses and distribution centers show the desperation of the people.

"This is an indication that people in Gaza have reached their breaking point," she said.

"The levels of frustration and desperation are really very high, and people have hit rock bottom in terms of their patience, their ability to endure more."

Aid deliveries to Gaza have decreased since Israel began bombing the Strip.
Touma said UNRWA has been forced to scale back its humanitarian operations in the
densely populated enclave because it could not distribute fuel to some medical facilities.

She said UNRWA received no additional supplies on Sunday.

"Those supplies are very, very small and do not meet the enormous needs on the ground," she said.

"We are calling for a standard and regular flow of humanitarian supplies, including fuel, and an increase in the number of trucks in these convoys," she added.

UNRWA said its ability to help people in Gaza is completely strained by airstrikes that have killed dozens of its staff and restricted the movement of supplies.

"Fifty-nine colleagues at UNRWA have been killed during the war," Touma said.

"This is only the number that UNRWA has managed to verify and confirm. Unfortunately, the number of colleagues killed could be higher. We also have reports of people trapped under the rubble," she added.

Even before the conflict, the organization said its work was threatened by a lack of funds. Founded in 1949 after the first Arab-Israeli war, UNRWA provides public services for Palestinians, including schooling, healthcare, and humanitarian aid in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon.