Critical aid lifelines in northern Gaza have been cut and no food aid has arrived since October 1. said UN Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq quotes information from the World Food Program (WHO).WFP).
The main border crossings to the north are closed and will be inaccessible if the current escalation continues, he added.
WFP has distributed the last remaining food supplies in the north to partners and kitchens hosting newly displaced families, but these are barely enough for two weeks.
Many of the sites have had to close, and others are at risk of closure if the conflict continues on this scale.
‘At breaking point’
Mr Haq said the situation in the south is also “at a breaking point”. No food distributions are taking place, while bakeries are struggling to secure wheat flour, putting them at risk of closing every day.
“Aid coming into Gaza is at its lowest level in months. No one has received food parcels this month due to limited access to relief supplies,” he said.
Despite the challenges, humanitarian workers are responding as best they can. The UN agency that assists Palestinian refugees UNRWAand partners distribute bread, ready-made or cooked meals, and flour, in and outside designated shelters.
An assessment team from the UN Humanitarian Affairs Office will meet on Thursday OCHAvisited the school-turned-al-Rufaida hideout in Deir al Balah, where an Israeli airstrike had killed several people.
They noted the destruction or damage to three classrooms, twenty tents, five bathrooms, three water tanks and the belongings of more than sixty families.
Families were forced to flee
The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said sudden displacement orders in the north are once again affecting tens of thousands of vulnerable boys and girls. OCHA warned that most displacement is now taking place in the north, where tents are not available to support families recently uprooted.
The latest developments in North Gaza Governorate have led to the suspension of protection services, the closure of malnutrition treatment services and the closure of five temporary learning spaces, affecting hundreds of children, while Kamal Adwan Hospital faces a influx of trauma injuries.
© UNRWA/Mohamed Hinnawi
A child receives the polio vaccine in Gaza.
Concerns about polio vaccination
UN humanitarians have continued to warn that the situation for civilians is worsening as the Israeli army renews its advance north, where some 400,000 people face evacuation orders.
“Over the past week, the Israeli military has intensified operations in northern Gaza, further separating the area from the rest of the Gaza Strip and once again endangering the lives of civilians in the areas,” said Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson for the Gaza Strip. UN Human Rights Office. , OHCHR.
“In recent days, intense strikes, shelling, quadcopter shootings and ground raids have occurred, hitting residential buildings and groups of people, causing numerous casualties and renewed mass displacement of Palestinians in the area.”
As UN aid agencies and partners prepare to roll out the second phase of the mass polio vaccination campaign next week, the World Health Organization (WHO)WHORepresentative for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, underlined the impact of a chronic lack of humanitarian access to the enclave and the north in particular.
“Many hospitals in the north are running out of fuel. Most UN and humanitarian missions do not take place in the north. They are running out of specific medical supplies and we have been in this crisis for a year,” Dr. Peeperkorn said, confirming that three aid missions north of Wadi Gaza did not make it this week. “So we ask again… that these humanitarian missions to the north, anywhere in the south, should take place.”
