UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 2 (Xinhua) -- UN Humanitarians on Wednesday expressed deep concern over the safety and welfare of civilians in the occupied Palestinian territory as three children have been reportedly killed in 24 hours.
The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said Wednesday on Facebook that two girls and a boy aged 3 to 13 had reportedly been killed in the preceding 24 hours in Gaza, with at least five other children injured.
UNICEF said that to protect children, the use of explosive weapons and indiscriminate fire must be avoided.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said three guards working for a humanitarian partner were slightly injured on Tuesday during armed clashes in Gaza City.
In Deir al-Balah, the outer walls of two UN guesthouses were struck by a projectile, causing minor damage. An Israeli quadcopter was observed nearby, it said.
OCHA said that, for the second day on Wednesday, about 1 million people in Gaza who depend on the Israeli water grid were affected by reduced water supplies, with water distributed from other sources by truck only partially compensating for the reduction.
In the West Bank, OCHA said its humanitarian partners are deeply concerned by reports that the entire community of Khirbet at Tabban was destroyed on Wednesday by Israeli forces.
Khirbet is one of 13 herding communities in the Masafer Yatta area of Hebron, comprising over 1,000 people, who are all within the 18 percent of the West Bank that the Israeli authorities have declared as "firing zones" and allocated for military training, the office said.
These communities have faced longstanding demolition orders issued against all structures for being unlicensed, although Israeli authorities do not issue the necessary permits for Palestinians. A dozen settler outposts have been established in the same area over the past two years, with settler violence adding to pressure on Palestinians to leave.
OCHA said its partners are mobilizing response efforts to support the newly displaced, while also supporting vulnerable communities' livelihoods across the West Bank, which are under pressure to leave their land.
In this context, the Food and Agriculture Organization said on Wednesday that herders in the West Bank have received 3.3 million vaccine doses from the agency and the Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture to safeguard livestock and their income over the past two years. Enditem
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