Aid efforts to Gaza ‘at breaking point’, UN warns | Israel-Palestine conflict news

The OCHA chief says the suffocating attacks by both Israeli soldiers and Palestinian groups are aimed at saving lives in the war-torn enclave.

United Nations efforts to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza are “at breaking point”, a senior official has warned.

Aid efforts in Gaza face mounting obstacles Israeli forces The head of the UN humanitarian agency (OCHA) said in a statement late on Monday that attacks on aid workers continued amid a breakdown in law and order in the war-torn enclave. He also mentioned the danger of armed Palestinian groups.

Tom Fletcher, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, he said: “The reality is that despite our determination to deliver 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 operated by a partner of the World Food Program (WFP).

He added that Israeli soldiers also fired more than 16 shots at a clearly marked UN convoy at the south-north crossing on Sunday.

Armed Palestinian gangs also hinder operations. Fletcher said they hijacked six fuel tankers entering the Israelis at the Kerem Abu Salem crossing, leaving almost no fuel for humanitarian aid operations.

“There is no meaningful civil order. Israeli forces are unable or unwilling to provide security for our convoys. Statements by Israeli authorities insult our aid workers even as the military attacks them. Community volunteers who accompany our convoys are targeted. “There is now a perception that protecting aid convoys is dangerous, but looting them is safe,” Fletcher said.

Israel’s 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 during the attacks led by Hamas that day, and about 250 people were captured.

OCHA also expressed deep concern that 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.

“If the things needed to protect these children were available to their families, these deaths could have been prevented,” he said.

According to estimates by UN agencies, about 1.6 million people in Gaza live in temporary shelters exposed to the winter cold, and about half a million live in flood-prone areas. Of the 135,000 tents used as shelters in Gaza, 110,000 are said to be outdated and unusable.

Fletcher called on UN member states to ensure the protection of all civilians and all humanitarian operations.

“It goes without saying,” he said.