According to a UN official responsible for Palestinian refugees, the breakdown of civil order in Gaza as a result of the war has allowed widespread looting, smuggling, and blocked aid deliveries.
With the war currently entering its ninth month, the UN has declared the humanitarian conditions in Gaza 'desperate' and 'unlivable', among other terms, and issued multiple warnings of man-made famine there.
“Gaza has been decimated,” UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini declared “We have witnessed unprecedented failures of humanity in a territory marked by decades of violence. ''Palestinians and Israelis have experienced terrible losses and suffered immensely. Gazans are in a living hell, a nightmare from which they cannot wake.”
Israel has repeatedly denied responsibility for the conditions in Gaza and any shortages caused by the war, claiming that aid organizations are at fault for failing to collect more than 1000 and counting truckloads of supplies from Gaza border crossings.