UN Emergency Relief Co-ordinator Tom Fletcher on Thursday visited the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and southern Gaza, describing it as a \u201cvital lifeline\u201d for the enclave\u2019s 2.2 million residents.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cThe collective international community must ensure aid reaches those who need it most,\u201d he told BBC Radio 4, adding that he remains in close contact with the White House, who are determined that we are allowed to deliver at scale.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said it has sufficient food stocks positioned outside Gaza to feed the population for three months, but that Israeli authorities continue to block entry despite the ceasefire.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
UNRWA Spokesperson Adnan Abu Hasna said the agency must remain the \u201cbackbone\u201d of the aid response, warning that Israel\u2019s restrictions risk eroding public trust. \u201cWe see absolutely no justification for Israel not allowing this massive amount of aid, which costs tens of millions of Dollars, into the country,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
According to Abu Hasna, around 12 000 UNRWA staff are still operating inside Gaza, including 8 000 teachers working to help 640 000 students resume their education after two years of disruption. The agency has also provided more than 800 000 psychological consultations, though 90% of its facilities have been destroyed and 370 staff members have been killed since the conflict began.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe only thing that has changed for us is our inability to distribute food, even though we have the logistical capabilities,\u201d Abu Hasna said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the UN Children\u2019s Fund reported that it has more than 1 300 truckloads of life-saving supplies ready to enter Gaza, stressing that humanitarian needs remain \u201cimmense.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The UN and aid agencies have renewed calls for safe and unimpeded access to Gaza to prevent further loss of life and to begin long-term recovery efforts.<\/p>\n
–UN\/ChannelAfrica–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":13019,"template":"default||default","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[78,26],"class_list":["post-13018","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-featured","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"As a fragile ceasefire continues to hold in the Gaza Strip, the United Nations (UN) is stepping up its humanitarian operations amid severe shortages of food, medicine and shelter.||As a fragile ceasefire continues to hold in the Gaza Strip, the United Nations (UN) is stepping up its humanitarian operations amid severe shortages of food, medicine and shelter.","published_date":null,"news_description":"As a fragile ceasefire continues to hold in the Gaza Strip, the United Nations (UN) is stepping up its humanitarian operations amid severe shortages of food, medicine and shelter.||As a fragile ceasefire continues to hold in the Gaza Strip, the United Nations (UN) is stepping up its humanitarian operations amid severe shortages of food, medicine and shelter.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/13018","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/13018\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18338,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/13018\/revisions\/18338"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13019"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=13018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}