UN human rights body concerned over Gaza humanitarian crisis

GENEVA, Oct. 17 (Xinhua) -- With thousands of people killed and over one million displaced in just ten days, and large areas in the Gaza Strip reduced to rubble, the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Office said on Tuesday that it had "grave fears about the toll on civilians in the coming days."

Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), told a news briefing here that the death toll included at least 11 Palestinian journalists, 28 medical workers and 14 UN staff.

She said that the latest reports indicate that around 199 Israelis were held hostages by Palestinian armed groups in Gaza. The OHCHR once again urged the Palestinian armed groups to immediately and unconditionally release all civilian hostages, and to halt the use of inherently indiscriminate projectiles against Israel.

Shamdasani told reporters that the OHCHR urged the Israeli forces to avoid targeting civilians and civilian objects or conducting area bombardments, indiscriminate or disproportionate attacks, and to take precautions to avoid, and in any event to minimize, loss of civilian life, injury to civilians and damage to civilian objects.

The OHCHR also echoed the UN call for a humanitarian pause to enable aid delivery and prevent further suffering and deaths of the already much beleaguered civilian population of Gaza, she said.

Abeer Etefa, World Food Programme (WFP) regional communications lead for the Middle East and North Africa, told the briefing from Cairo that the current stocks of food commodities in Gaza were sufficient for only two weeks, food shops had reserves for approximately five days, and there were difficulties with replenishing those shops from warehouses.

Only one mill was currently working in the Gaza Strip, and people were lining up for hours to get bread, with only five bakeries currently operational, she said, adding that some 25 percent of the stocks in the shops or warehouses were believed to be lost, left behind or spoiled because of the lack of electricity.

According to Etefa, the WFP was hoping to provide lifesaving food supplies to 800,000 people both in Gaza and the West Bank, and 74 million U.S. dollars were urgently needed to continue the operation for the next three months.