A UN official visiting the Gaza Strip to assess the humanitarian crisis more than two weeks after the end of a more than 50-day Israeli offensive on Thursday compared the scale of the damage to a "tsunami."
Hania Dakkak, a technical adviser of the United Nations Population Fund, said in a statement that in many areas across the tiny coastal enclave, "it looks like a tsunami has hit" due to the extent of the destruction.
Dakkak said that Gaza will need fifteen years of reconstruction before life will be able to return to normal, especially with regard to the psychological trauma experienced by the Strip's 1.8 million inhabitants.
"In any area of conflict, a minimum of 10 percent of the population ends up with psychological problems that require long term treatment and follow up," Dakkak added.
In addition to rehabilitating a number of health centers that were destroyed during the latest Israeli offensive, the UNFPA has already implemented a number of projects that provide reproductive health services, psychosocial support to women and children, and distributed humanitarian assistance to families in shelters. more
Comments
Post a Comment