THE United Nations (UN) said yesterday that it estimates around 10,000 Palestinians are forced to leave homes in Gaza “due to the ongoing hostilities” amid an Israeli offensive.

“They are sheltering in schools, mosques and other places during a global Covid-19 pandemic with limited access to water, food, hygiene and health services,” Anadolu Agency reported UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a statement.

“Hospitals and access to water and sanitation services depend on electricity, the fuel for which will run out tomorrow,” it added.

The office said Israeli authorities and Palestinian groups must immediately allow the UN and its humanitarian partners to bring in fuel, food, and medical supplies and to deploy humanitarian personnel.

“All parties must always adhere to international humanitarian and human rights laws,” it added.

The office reiterated the UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres’s call for immediate de-escalation in Gaza and Israel.

According to Anadolu Agency, at least 122 Palestinians, including 31 children and 20 women, have been killed, and 900 others injured in the ongoing Israeli offensive against Gaza.

Israel continues to target Gaza with heavy bombardment which caused heavy damage to residential buildings across the enclave.

To date, nine Israelis have been killed in the recent violence – eight of them in rocket attacks in addition to a soldier killed when an anti-tank guided missile struck his jeep.

Tensions have been running high in the Sheikh Jarrah area in occupied East Jerusalem over the past month as Israeli settlers swarmed in following a court order for the eviction of Palestinian families in the area.

Palestinians protesting for the residents of Sheikh Jarrah who have been targeted and threatened of expulsion by Israeli forces, it added. – Bernama, May 15, 2021.