Speaking in New York on Wednesday, UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said hostilities in several areas of the Gaza Strip were causing further casualties and repeatedly disrupting humanitarian operations. He noted that despite efforts to coordinate movements, access remains extremely limited.
On Tuesday, the UN and its partners coordinated eight planned humanitarian missions inside Gaza with Israeli authorities. Only one mission was facilitated, while the remaining seven were denied, impeded or cancelled. Nevertheless, UN teams managed to collect more than 200 pallets of medicine and five tankers of fuel at the Kerem Shalom/Kerem Abu Salem crossing. Additional tents were also retrieved from the Kissufim crossing.
“Every delivery into Gaza makes a significant difference,” Dujarric said, stressing that the needs far outweigh what agencies can currently bring in.
According to the UN, Gaza’s health system is barely functioning under the strain of months of conflict. Not a single hospital in the territory is fully operational, with only 18 of Gaza’s 36 health facilities able to offer limited services. The World Health Organisation (WHO) evacuated 33 critically ill Palestinians and more than 100 companions on Monday, but the scale of unmet medical need remains immense.
“There are still more than 16 500 patients who need to receive medical care outside of Gaza,” Dujarric said, adding that WHO continues to call for safe access through all evacuation routes, including to the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Beyond emergency care, the UN is working to maintain essential services for civilians. The UN agency for Palestine refugees is sustaining learning activities for displaced children, operating nearly 350 temporary learning spaces in 64 shelters and reaching more than 47 000 boys and girls.
The UN says it is ready to scale up humanitarian operations immediately should restrictions be eased. “We once again call for unimpeded humanitarian access so that teams can reach everyone they need,” Dujarric said.
–UN/ChannelAfrica–
