UNRWA Senior Communications Officer Louise Wateridge says the living conditions in Gaza are “extremely dire” as Palestinians are forced to live in bombed-out buildings or camp near piles of waste, Al Jazeera reports.

“It’s really unbearable,” Wateridge told reporters in Geneva via videolink from central Gaza.

“Today, it has to be the worst it’s ever been. I don’t doubt that tomorrow again will be the worst it’s ever been,” she said.

On returning to Khan Younis, Wateridge said, “The buildings are skeletons, if at all. Everything is rubble”.

“And yet people are living there again.

“There’s no water there, there’s no sanitation, there’s no food. And now, people are living back in these buildings that are empty shells,” with sheets covering the gaps left by blown-out walls.

With no toilets, “people are relieving themselves anywhere they can.”

Editorial

Updated 01 Aug, 2026

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