\n
<\/p>\n
After nearly three months of complete blockade by Israel, a \u201cvastly insufficient\u201d amount of aid was finally allowed into the war-ravaged enclave in the last week, insisted Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN aid coordination office, OCHA.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have not stopped operating,\u201d he said, referring to staff still inside Gaza, who are tasked with liaising with the Israeli authorities to retrieve supplies allowed into Gaza from Israel, via the Kerem Shalom crossing.<\/p>\n
Mr. Laerke insisted that the UN is not participating in the Israeli aid plan known as the Gaza Humanitarian Fund: \u201cIt is a distraction from what is actually needed, which is a reopening of all the crossings into Gaza, a secure environment within Gaza and faster facilitation of permissions and final approvals of all the emergency supplies that we have just outside the border; [aid] needs to get in.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n The veteran humanitarian stressed the ongoing dangers and obstacles that have prevented aid teams from picking up and dispatching lifesaving supplies via the UN\u2019s existing delivery network in Gaza.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are not always able to collect what is being dropped off on the other side because of the insecure routes that are being assigned to us by the Israeli authorities to use,\u201d\u00a0<\/strong>he told journalists in Geneva.<\/p>\n All types of aid must be allowed through and not \u201ccherry-picked\u201d,<\/strong> Mr. Laerke stressed: \u201cThe bottom line again is that we are talking about a vastly insufficient amount of aid that eventually enters Gaza at the moment. That\u2019s why we need [the] opening of more crossings, we need all types of aid – not that aid that is cherry-picked by the Israeli side that we are allowed to get in.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n In an update, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said that as of Monday, 294 trucks have reached Kerem Shalom from Port Ashdod. On Tuesday, media reports indicated that protesters attempted to block lorries loaded with aid from leaving the Israeli port.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile desperately needed aid is finally trickling into Gaza, the pace is far too slow to meet the overwhelming needs,\u201d WFP said. \u201cGaza families are at a breaking point, amid intensified fighting, waves of evacuation orders and population displacement.\u201d<\/p>\n The UN agency noted that it has \u201cmore than 130,000 metric tonnes of food in the pipeline as well as a functioning delivery network ready to provide assistance<\/strong>. An immediate surge in daily aid trucks and unrestricted access to safely collect and distribute food inside Gaza are critical before it is too late.\u201d<\/p>\n The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, meanwhile, explained that \u201cno supplies whatsoever\u201d<\/strong> prepared by the agency have reached Gaza since the Israeli siege began on 2 March.<\/p>\n This is despite UNRWA having readied more than 3,000 trucks carrying food and medicines in Jordan and Egypt which will perish soon.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cWe have clinics, we have pharmacies that the agency runs and there we normally would distribute medicines against chronic diseases\u2026but also basic medicines, things like paracetamol and then childhood diseases and these are the medicines that we’re running out of,\u201d\u00a0<\/strong>said\u00a0Juliette Touma, UNRWA Director of Communications.<\/p>\n The development comes as UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini urged the Israeli Government to provide proof to back up its unsubstantiated allegations that the UN agency\u2019s staff were involved in the Hamas-led terror attacks in Israel that sparked the war in October 2023.<\/p>\n Investigations carried out internally by the UN last year found sufficient evidence that nine active UNRWA staff had been involved.<\/p>\n A separate independent probe commissioned by the UN Secretary-General found that the agency\u2019s rules, mechanisms and procedures were the most \u201celaborate\u201d within the UN, reflecting the complex and sensitive demands associated with working in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.<\/p>\n‘Cherry-picking’ warning<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Crossing the line<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Evidence call to Israel<\/strong><\/h2>\n