UNITED NATIONS
Aid is trickling into Gaza after nearly three months of Israeli blockade, but it remains far from enough to meet the soaring humanitarian needs, UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric has said.
He stressed that the assistance must be delivered swiftly and directly to those most in need. Dujarric told reporters in New York on Tuesday that UN humanitarians were sending flour, medicines, nutrition supplies and other basic items through the Palestinian side of the Kerem Shalom crossing – a day after they managed to bring in baby formula and other nutrition supplies.
The first trucks of vital baby food are now inside Gaza after 11 weeks of total blockade, and it is urgent that we get that assistance distributed. We need much, much more to cross, he added. In the face of mounting international objections over the total blockade imposed on 2 March – and condemnation over the risk of widespread famine – Israel started to allow a handful of aid trucks to enter Gaza on Monday, while simultaneously intensifying its military offensive.
The aid blockade has pushed the entire population, more than two million people, to the brink of famine, amid ongoing bombardment and recurrent displacement orders. The UN humanitarian affairs office OCHA said Israel cleared nine aid trucks to cross the Kerem Shalom border on Monday, but only five were allowed in.
Dujarric said Israel requires supplies to be offloaded on the Palestinian side of Kerem Shalom. Items are then reloaded separately once the authorities secure humanitarian teams access from inside Gaza. Only then are we able to bring any supplies closer to where people in need are sheltering, he said. On Tuesday, one of the UN teams waited for several hours before being given the green light.
