Monday, December 23, 2024

Israel denies blocking Gaza aid as UN says ‘trickle’ got to north

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Earlier, the Israeli military body responsible for managing crossings into Gaza, Cogat, said aid had been delivered to northern Gaza for the third consecutive day following a two-week period when the UN said no aid was allowed in. Fifty lorries carrying food, water, medical supplies and shelter equipment from Jordan crossed via the Erez West crossing, it added.

The UN meanwhile confirmed that almost 30 lorry loads of aid had entered the north on Monday and another 12 lorry loads the following day.

Ms Msuya said that constituted a “trickle” and that “all essential supplies for survival are running out”.

“There is now barely any food left to distribute, and most bakeries will be forced to shut down again in the next several days without additional fuel,” she said.

“Given the abject conditions and intolerable suffering in north Gaza, the fact that humanitarian access is nearly non-existent is unconscionable.”

The US envoy, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said the Biden administration had made it clear that “food and supplies must be surged into Gaza immediately”.

She also warned that a “policy of starvation” in northern Gaza would be “horrific and unacceptable”.

“The government of Israel has said that this is not their policy, that food and other essential supplies will not be cut off, and we will be watching to see that Israel’s actions on the ground match this statement,” she added.

Ms Msuya also warned that the three hospitals still partially operational in and around Jabalia were facing dire shortages of fuel, blood, trauma treatment and medications.

They have been overwhelmed by casualties caused by the intense Israeli bombardment and fighting on the ground between Israeli troops and Hamas fighters over the past 11 days.

More than 50,000 people have fled their homes in response, but others remain stranded with water and food running out.

Israel launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to the group’s unprecedented attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

More than 42,400 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.

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