As an intensive Israeli military operation in besieged northern Gaza enters its 50th day, remaining residents are left “scavenging among the rubble” for food, UNRWA spokeswoman Louise said Wateridge, to the media.

The Israeli army announced it would intensify its operations in the ravaged north of the territory on October 6, with its troops encircling the northern town of Jabalia and adjacent areas.

Speaking to AFP from Gaza City, where many northerners have fled since the operation began, Wateridge gave information gleaned from speaking to displaced Palestinians and colleagues at the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees.

She added that UNRWA estimates that between 100,000 and 130,000 people have fled northern Gaza since the start of the operation, which Israel says is aimed at preventing Hamas fighters from regrouping in the area.

Palestinians queue to receive a food ration in front of a distribution center. AFP

What is the current situation? “There is no access to food, no access to drinking water. Eight of the UNRWA water wells that were in Jabalia stopped working weeks ago. They have been damaged, destroyed, they are running out of fuel.

“There have been very horrific reports of ongoing strikes against hospitals and shelters where people are staying.

“Here in Gaza City, I meet people who have fled for their lives and they show me these terrible videos where they are running through the streets, navigating, you know, through the rubble.

“There are corpses of children around them, there are corpses of people who have been killed everywhere and that they have to walk and step over to get out.

A Palestinian boy stands next to buckets in Gaza on Monday. AFP

“Fifty days of siege, it’s unimaginable, the destruction, the death, the pain, the suffering that it will cause.

“I have met children in recent days, we hear the planes going by, we hear the drones and they freeze, they freeze completely, they have nothing to say, they chatter their teeth, they are absolutely paralyzed by the fear because of the experiences they have had in recent weeks.

How is life there? “(There are) about 65,000 people in these besieged areas. We hear that they’re searching residential buildings, digging through the rubble, trying to find old tin cans, any sort of food source that’s already there in these residential buildings or among the rubble.

“It was around this time last year that there were reports in northern Gaza that it was being cut off and people were moving around, our colleagues were eating animal food to stay alive. So, people eat whatever they can find at this point and it’s truly complete survival.

A Palestinian prepares food rations in Gaza on Monday. AFP

“Hearing these stories of families under the rubble and fleeing and having to leave them behind, people are traumatized, people who didn’t manage to escape, they are absolutely traumatized.”

What about those in Gaza City? “(There are) about 100,000 to 130,000 additional people forcibly displaced from Jabalia, from Beit Hanoun, from these besieged areas. And… they are arriving (in Gaza City) to charred buildings, destroyed buildings , it’s raining, it’s sunny, it’s cold, it’s cold.

“They don’t have mattresses, they don’t have tarpaulins, they don’t have tents, they don’t have blankets, the families are crying, begging because their children don’t have clothes, they do not have warm clothes, babies have nothing to keep them warm.

“The conditions that people are forced to live in here are beyond appalling. So they are among the rubble, they are in these facilities that should be protected by international law.

“Horrible stories of tanks coming in, schools being hit, and then people being forced to go back to shelter there because they just don’t have anywhere else to go.”

Agence France-Presse