Since the Israeli raids on the Gaza Strip began on Saturday, more than 73,000 Palestinian residents living along the eastern regions near the Israeli frontier have left their homes to take shelter in United Nations refugee agency schools.
According to Adnan Abu Hasna, a media spokesman for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), people are arriving from all parts of the Gaza Strip, as the area faces intense aerial bombardment.
“Residents have taken refuge in 64 schools, with more coming, as they believe that they are the safest places in the Gaza Strip because they are affiliated with the United Nations,” Abu Hasna said.
At the schools and other UN institutions in Gaza, Abu Hasna explained, Palestinians can receive healthcare, nutritional and psychological services.
“Some of the elderly are medical cases that need follow-up in light of the current tension, and children need psychological and social counsellors in order to overcome this difficult stage they have lived through,” he said.
Families in Gaza are fleeing to the UNRWA schools after an unprecedented attack by Hamas fighters caught the Israeli military establishment by surprise. Members of Hamas’s armed wing flew into Israeli military sites and towns using motorised paragliders, while others broke through the Israeli fence.
Article from www.aljazeera.com