6/17/2024–|Last updated: 6/17/202406:40 PM (Mecca time)
The World Health Organization called for the evacuation of about 10,000 urgent cases to receive treatment outside the Gaza Strip, and while the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) confirmed that the fighting is continuing despite the Israeli occupation army’s announcement of its cessation, the Gaza government called for an end to the pressure on civilians with the “crime of starvation.” .
CNN quoted the organization’s representative in the West Bank and Gaza Strip as saying that there are at least 10,000 urgent cases that need to be evacuated from Gaza to receive treatment.
The international organization stressed the need to reopen the Rafah crossing as soon as possible or find an alternative mechanism, and said that critically ill patients cannot be left behind.
For its part, UNRWA said that Gaza is the most dangerous place in the world for relief workers, adding that 193 agency personnel have been killed since the beginning of the war, which is the highest death toll in the history of the United Nations.
For his part, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini confirmed that hostilities continue in Rafah and the southern Gaza Strip despite the Israeli occupation army’s announcement yesterday, Sunday, of a tactical cessation of operations to allow the entry of humanitarian aid.
Lazzarini warned that UNRWA has funding only until next July, and that it is not known how funding for UNRWA will continue after this date.
“starvation crime”
On the other hand, the government media office in Gaza called – today, Monday – on the international community to “pressure Tel Aviv to end the use of the crime of starvation to pressure civilians” in the Strip.
The media office said – in a statement – that “the Israeli occupation and the American administration are using aid and food as a tool for political pressure against civilians in the Gaza Strip, deliberately perpetuating famine and aggravating the humanitarian situation.”
The media office stressed that the residents of Gaza are living in harsh humanitarian conditions and real famine, especially in the Gaza and North governorates.
He stressed that this situation violates moral and humanitarian values and international law, exploiting the needs of children, civilians and the sick and compounding their suffering for political purposes, which puts their lives in danger.
The media office called on the international community and international organizations to exert serious and real pressure to stop the genocidal war, and to stop using food and aid as a tool for political pressure on civilians, children, the sick and the wounded.
The food shortage is worsening in large parts of the Gaza Strip as a result of the Israeli occupation forces continuing to prevent food trucks from entering the Strip.
Residents are finding it very difficult to provide food, with signs of the return of famine appearing more severe than before in some areas of the Strip.
Israel continues its war on Gaza, ignoring the UN Security Council resolutions to stop it immediately, and the orders of the International Court of Justice to end the Rafah invasion, take measures to prevent acts of genocide, and improve the dire humanitarian situation in the Strip.
Tel Aviv is also challenging the request of International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan to issue arrest warrants against its Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and its Defense Minister Yoav Galant for their responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
