Humanitarian issues should be unconditional in Gaza: UN official

GENEVA, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- All humanitarian assistance and humanitarian issues have to be unconditional, Lynn Hastings, the United Nations (UN) humanitarian coordinator for the occupied Palestinian territory, told a press conference here on Friday.

Hastings cited the Gaza-based Health Ministry as saying that so far at least 6,500 Palestinians have been killed in the past 21 days, 17,000 are injured, with 68 percent of those being children and women.

In addition, 45 percent of all housing units there have been destroyed or damaged, 76 attacks have been recorded on health care facilities affecting 35 facilities and 24 ambulances, and 219 facilities for education have also been hit, she said.

For the 18th consecutive day, Gaza remains under full electricity blackout after Israel halted electricity, fuel and water supply to Gaza. The backup generators for many essential services, including hospitals and water desalination plants and food production, are one by one coming to a halt because of the lack of fuel, she added.

According to the official, the health system in Gaza is overrun, and one third of the hospitals there have been shut down, so did two-thirds of the primary health care clinics due to the damage or to the lack of fuel.

She told reporters that though being ordered to leave the north, about 300,000 to 400,000 Gaza people still have to remain in the north.