Israel/Palestine
In reply to the discussion: Israel launches ground incursion in Gaza Strip [View all]bemildred
(90,061 posts)BEIT LAHIYA, Gaza Strip, July 19 (Reuters) - In a school in northern Gaza, scores of families sweat in cramped classrooms. Babies cry, while restless kids draw on chalkboards and worried parents give thanks for their relative safety.
They are among more than 50,000 civilians taken in by the main United Nations agency in Gaza, UNRWA, as they flee heavy shelling amid an Israeli ground offensive into the border areas of the Gaza Strip.
UNRWA is now warning that its funds and supplies are running critically low. From Sunday, it says, it will no longer be able to provide enough mattresses for the flow of refugees, and has launched an urgent appeal for 60 million dollars.
"The number of those fleeing continues to rise inexorably and has more than doubled in the last 36 hours," UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness told Reuters.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/19/palestinians-israel-shelling-idUSL6N0PU0ND20140719?rpc=401&feedType=RSS&feedName=rbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNews&rpc=401