UN “urgently asks Israel to open north Gaza for humanitarian relief.”
Emphasizing their “massive needs,” the United Nations has urged the Israeli government to lift the siege on the Gaza Strip and let humanitarian relief reach the hapless Palestinians living in the north. At a news conference, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said, “Access to the North Gaza governorate is still severely constrained. Over the weekend, the UN was unable to enter the area.
Dujarric underlined serious worries about the “fate of Palestinians remaining in North Gaza” and reiterated that the UN “urguously calls on Israel to open up the area to humanitarian operations at the scale needed, given the massive needs. “Rejecting most of UN efforts to arrange assistance convoys, the Israeli government has severed links with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). Tel Aviv is not allowing humanitarian relief into northern Gaza, Dujarric said.
Out of the 98 UN requests sent to the Israelis, only 15 relief convoys were permitted to pass over the Gaza Valley, Dujarric noted, pointing to a UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs Coordination (OCHA) report. Dujarric asked Israel to open the area to humanitarian activities as far as required given the severe need, stating OCHA’s “concern about the fate of the remaining Palestinians in northern Gaza as the blockade continued.
” Teams from OCHA, the UN Human Rights Agency, mine disposal, and other humanitarian organizations have visited nine sites in Gaza City over the past three days to evaluate the needs of hundreds of displaced families, many of whom are returning to northern Gaza. The spokesman said in a new report released on Monday that humanitarian organizations asked Israeli authorities for 50 requests to enter northern Gaza in October, 33 of which were denied and eight were approved, but faced challenges, including delays, which stopped them from performing their duties.
Official Israeli statistics reveal that aid to Gaza has plummeted despite a US ultimatum last month threatening sanctions against Tel Aviv should there be no improvement in humanitarian relief reaching Palestinians. Appearing last-minute on Monday, the Israeli government announced an expansion of the designated “humanitarian zone,” adding inland areas that would somewhat alleviate severe congestion and enable some displaced persons to relocate away from the coast as winter arrives. UN officials have meanwhile called Gaza’s ground condition “apocalyptic.
“Since the Israeli war machine began its genocidal attack in October 2023, it has uprooted more than 80% of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents and destroyed or damaged more than two-thirds of its buildings. “Very little is entering nowadays. The little street markets that developed have all closed. There is some flour, some washing-up liquid,… A kilogram of tomatoes costs almost twenty dollars. Even with money in hand, nothing can be bought.
According to one UN official, everyone is once again hungry. The worst region is the northern Gaza Strip, where Israeli forces have imposed a month-long tight blockade on the cities of Jabaliya, Beit Hanoun, and Beit Lahiya. The regime soldiers have deployed checkpoints throughout the region, directing the Palestinian population towards evacuation. People in north Gaza have nothing.
Every day from October 3 to the end of the month, the UN requested the delivery of items into Jabaliya, but they received no response, according to a UN official in Gaza. The IPC, a panel of international food security experts, issued a warning last Monday, stating that there is a “strong likelihood that famine is imminent in areas of northern Gaza. “Mostly women and children, around 44,000 Gazans have perished since the Israeli government started its merciless attack.