Haq noted that parts of northern Gaza have been cut off from the world for over 50 days under intense bombardment and a tight siege.
The Deputy Spokesperson for the United Nations Secretary-General, Farhan Haq, said on Tuesday that Israel denied or impeded the UN’s 41 life-saving assistance attempts to northern Gaza in November.
“Our colleagues in the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs report that none of the UN’s 41 attempts to reach Palestinians in besieged areas of North Gaza with life-saving assistance this month has been facilitated by Israeli authorities,” Haq told reporters at a press brief.
He added that 37 of the 41 missions “were denied, while the other four missions were approved but then impeded on the ground and accomplished only partially.”
Haq noted that parts of northern Gaza have been cut off from the world for over 50 days under intense bombardment and a tight siege, quoting OCHA that civilians must be protected under international humanitarian law whether they choose to stay or flee.
It’s that time of year again, when the forcibly displaced in #Gaza must drain the rainwater that floods their fragile tents pic.twitter.com/fDhuXPOoBw
— Euro-Med Monitor (@EuroMedHR) November 27, 2024
“Jabaliya, Beit Lahia, and Beit (Hanoun) have been largely cut off from humanitarian aid for weeks, as fierce hostilities continue,” he said.
Haq pointed out that even those who chose to flee to Gaza City “are also facing critical shortages of supplies and services, as well as severe overcrowding and poor hygiene conditions.”
Harsh Displacement Conditions
The deputy spokesperson also highlighted the devastating conditions under which displaced Palestinians in Gaza live during the winter season.
“As winter sets in, hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians living in makeshift shelters are even more vulnerable. More sewage is building up in areas packed with people, putting people’s health in jeopardy as diseases spread,” Haq said.
According to the UN official, these conditions “also increase the risk that damaged buildings — where many families have sought shelter — could collapse.”
“Just yesterday, heavy rains affected 7,000 families living in makeshift shelters (along) the coast in Gaza — that’s according to initial assessments by OCHA and our humanitarian partners. Thousands of tents were flooded, and people’s belongings and shelters were damaged,” Haq noted.
Furthermore, the deputy spokesperson said that the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is trying to get 2,500 plastic sheets and tarpaulins from the Kerem Shalom crossing so they can be distributed to people.
Hunger in #Gaza is at critical levels, with people scavenging through weeks-old waste for scraps of food.
As winter approaches, conditions are rapidly deteriorating, and survival is impossible without immediate humanitarian aid.#CeasefireNow pic.twitter.com/BOVfVsVyYa— UNRWA (@UNRWA) November 27, 2024
‘Grossly Inaccurate’
Haq denied reports about the United Nations Works and Relief Agency (UNRWA) evacuating its premises in occupied Jerusalem calling them “grossly inaccurate.”
He revealed that UNRWA will maintain its operations in the occupied West Bank, Jerusalem, and Gaza despite all the restrictions being imposed by the Israeli occupation authorities “to actively prevent it from implementing its mandate.”
In an answer to a question on the UN’s efforts to postpone or override the Israeli ban on UNRWA, Haq said: “We’re doing what we can to continue with our work, and our work needs to go on. It is mandated by the UN General Assembly, as you know, and any obstruction to that would need to be an issue for the relevant UN bodies to consider.”
Staggering Death Toll
Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza.
Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 44,282 Palestinians have been killed, and 104,880 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7, 2023.
Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
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Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Later in the war, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians began moving from the south to central Gaza in a constant search for safety.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
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