LocationsUNDP Statement on the war in Gaza
December 7, 2023
Following a brief humanitarian ceasefire, we are seeing a dramatic and horrific escalation of destruction in both scope and speed in Gaza.
The human suffering on the ground is deplorable and the humanitarian system is at severe risk of collapse, as the UN Secretary-General warned in his letter invoking Article 99 to the Security Council today.
Since the beginning of the war, 15,800 people have been killed. Today, all people in Gaza are in dire need of food, water, shelter, and access to medical care.
The critical infrastructure and services upon which Palestinian people rely have been decimated.
Israel has announced that over the past eight weeks, it has carried out approximately 10,000 air strikes in Gaza. The level of destruction of housing and infrastructure that this has caused has surpassed the devastation seen in any previous military operations in the Strip.
We need an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. All hostages must be released. We must have unrestricted, sustained, and at-scale humanitarian aid.
Until then, no one in Gaza is safe.