UNRWA warns that Gaza’s population faces “catastrophic” levels of hunger due to Israeli restrictions on humanitarian aid.
The United Nations Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) says more than 50,000 children in the Gaza Strip need immediate medical treatment for acute malnutrition.
In a statement released Saturday, the agency noted “that with continued restrictions on humanitarian access, Gaza residents continue to face desperate levels of hunger. UNRWA teams are working tirelessly to provide assistance to families, but the situation is catastrophic.”
With continued restrictions on humanitarian access, populations #Gaza continue to face desperate levels of hunger. More than 50,000 children need treatment for acute malnutrition@UNRWA the teams are working tirelessly to provide help to families but the situation is catastrophic. #CeasefireNow pic.twitter.com/FwmsjrqmRW
– UNRWA (@UNRWA) June 15, 2024
UNICEF spokesperson James Elder also described how difficult it is not only to get aid to Gaza, but also to distribute it across the war-ravaged coastal enclave.
“More aid workers have been killed in this war than in any war since the advent of the UN,” he told Al Jazeera.
On Wednesday, UNICEF was on a mission to drive a truck full of nutritional and medical supplies for 10,000 children, Elder said. Their task was to transport aid, pre-approved by Israeli authorities, from Deir el-Balah to Gaza City, a 40 km (25 mile) round trip.
“It took 13 hours and we spent eight of them around checkpoints, arguing over paperwork – ‘was it a truck or a van’,” he said.
“The reality is that this truck was refused access. These 10,000 children did not receive this assistance…Israel, as the occupying power, has a legal responsibility to facilitate this assistance.
One of Rafah’s main land crossings has been closed since Israeli forces seized the area early last month. The move increased fears of famine in southern and central Gaza.
The deputy executive director of the U.N. World Food Program, Carl Skau, spent two days assessing the plight of the Palestinians this week, saying the challenges “are unlike anything I’ve ever seen.”
“The situation in southern Gaza is rapidly deteriorating. A million people in southern Gaza are trapped, without clean water or sanitation, in a heavily congested area along the beach in the scorching summer heat. We crossed rivers of sewage. said Skau.
For months, right-wing Israelis have been protesting and blocking roads to prevent aid shipments to reach Gaza, further limiting the flow of aid the territory desperately needs.
On Friday, the United States imposed sanctions on a Israeli “violent extremist” group for blocking and damaging humanitarian aid convoys to Gaza. The leaders of the Group of Seven also stress UN agencies must work unhindered in Gaza.
UNRWA, which coordinates almost all aid to Gaza, has also been in crisis since January, when Israel accused about a dozen of its 13,000 employees in Gaza were involved in Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7.
That claim led many countries, including top donor the United States, to abruptly suspend funding to the agency, threatening its aid delivery efforts.
UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini has repeatedly said Israeli moves to withhold funding amount to “additional collective punishment” for Palestinians already reeling from relentless Israeli bombing.
