Efforts by UN agencies to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza are at a “breaking point”, a senior official has warned.
Aid efforts in Gaza face growing obstacles as Israeli forces continue attacks on aid workers amid a disruption of law and order in the war-torn enclave, the head of the Gaza Strip said on Monday. United Nations humanitarian agency (OCHA) in a press release. He also highlighted the threat from Palestinian armed groups.
Tom Fletcher, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, said: “The reality is that despite our determination to provide food, water and medicine to survivors, our efforts to save lives are at breaking point. »
The official noted that an Israeli airstrike seriously injured three people at a known food distribution point where partner World Food Program (WFP) operated.
Israeli soldiers also fired more than 16 bullets at a clearly marked U.N. convoy at the south-to-north checkpoint on Sunday, he added.
Armed Palestinian gangs also hamper operations. They hijacked six fuel trucks entering through the Karem Abu Salem crossing, known as Kerem Shalom to Israelis, leaving humanitarian agencies with virtually no fuel for their aid operations, Fletcher said.
“There is no meaningful civil order. Israeli forces cannot or will not ensure the security of our convoys. Statements by Israeli authorities slander our aid workers even as the army attacks them. Community volunteers who accompany our convoys are targeted. There is now a perception that it is dangerous to protect humanitarian convoys, but safe to loot them,” Fletcher said.
The Israeli genocide in Gaza has killed at least 45,854 Palestinians and injured 109,139 since October 7, 2023. At least 1,139 people were killed in Israel in attacks carried out by Hamas that day, and around 250 were been captured.
Israeli military strikes killed at least 10 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, doctors said. One of the strikes killed four people in a house in al-Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, while the other six were killed in separate strikes across the enclave, officials said. doctors.
OCHA also expressed deep concern after another baby froze to death in Gaza on Monday due to hypothermia and Israel’s restrictions on the entry of humanitarian aid, including tents, blankets, mattresses and other supplies for displaced Palestinians.
“These deaths could have been avoided if the equipment necessary to protect these children had been accessible to their families,” he said in a statement.
UN agencies estimate that around 1.6 million people in Gaza are living in makeshift shelters that do not protect them from the winter cold, including almost half a million in flood-prone areas. Gaza authorities say that some 110,000 of the 135,000 tents used for shelter in the Gaza Strip are worn out and unusable.
Fletcher called on UN member states to ensure that all civilians and humanitarian operations are protected.
“You shouldn’t say that,” he insisted.
“A real disaster”
His comments come as Gaza’s health ministry urges international donors to immediately provide fuel to maintain medical services.
He warned of “a real disaster”, because none of the health establishments still operational in the enclave have fuel stocks, “threatening hospitals, oxygen stations, medicine refrigerators and nurseries” .
The ministry said the last shipment of fuel was stolen on Monday while on its way to hospitals.
“We reiterate our call to all relevant international and humanitarian institutions to urgently intervene to provide and secure the fuel necessary for the operation of generators in hospitals and health centers in the Gaza Strip,” said the ministry.
Meanwhile, Qatar Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari confirmed that indirect talks aimed at cementing a ceasefire in Gaza between Israel and Hamas are continuing with “technical meetings » between the parties.
Discussions among lower-level officials over the details of a deal continue and “no main meetings are taking place at this time,” he added.
Hamas on Tuesday maintained its demand that Israel completely end its attack on Gaza and withdraw all its troops from Gaza as part of any agreement to free Israeli captives.
