Aid entering Gaza at lowest level in months: UN

United Nations, Oct 12 (IANS) Aid entering Gaza is at its lowest level in months, and no one in Gaza has received food parcels this month due to constrained access to aid supplies, a UN spokesman said.

UN Secretary-General’s deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said the World Food Programme (WFP) reports that critical aid lifelines into northern Gaza have been cut off, Xinhua news agency reported.

“No food aid has entered since October 1,” Haq said at a daily briefing, adding that the main crossings into northern Gaza have been closed and will be inaccessible if the escalation continues.

He said WFP distributed its last remaining food stocks in northern Gaza to partners and kitchens sheltering newly displaced families, but these are barely enough to last two weeks. Many of those kitchens, distribution points, and bakeries were forced to shut down, and others are at risk of shutting down if the conflict continues at this scale.

“The situation is at breaking point as well in the South of Gaza,” the spokesman warned. There are no food distributions, and bakeries are struggling to secure wheat flour, which puts them at risk of shutting down any day.

Haq said that despite the challenges, humanitarian organisations are responding to the best of their ability, with UNRWA, the UN relief agency for Palestinians, and non-governmental organisation partners distributing bread, ready-to-eat or cooked meals, as well as flour, in and beyond designated shelters.

He noted that personnel from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on Thursday visited the school-turned-shelter of Al Rufaida, in Deir al Balah, where an Israeli airstrike had killed multiple people, including women and children. The assessment team noted the destruction or damage to three classrooms, 20 tents, five bathrooms, three water tanks, and the belongings of more than 60 families.

“Once again, OCHA calls for all parties to the conflict to respect their obligations under international humanitarian law, including by taking constant care to spare civilians and civilian objects,” said Haq.

The UN Children’s Fund says sudden displacement orders in northern Gaza are once again forcing tens of thousands of vulnerable children onto the roads, warning that children are being condemned time and again to unimaginable suffering, horror and death.

The spokesman said the latest developments in North Gaza governorate have forced the suspension of protection services, the closure of malnutrition treatment services benefiting about 1,000 children, and the shutting down of five temporary learning spaces for more than 750 children.

In the West Bank, OCHA reports that recurrent operations by Israeli forces over the past year have caused major damage to critical infrastructure, including systems critical to water, sanitation and hygiene. As a result, access to clean water and sanitation services has been compromised for nearly 92,000 people in the West Bank.

–IANS

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