UN News looked at the needs created by the ongoing conflict, looking at how much aid is going to Gaza compared to what is needed to address the grim situation on the ground. There, 2.3 million Palestinians are trapped in an ongoing war that began nearly a year ago after Hamas-led attacks that have killed more than 1,000 people in Israel and taken 250 hostages.
Now they face massive famine, the spread of disease, massive destruction, a decimated health system, lack of water and sanitation, and a severe lack of basic necessities.
Here’s the latest news:
Supply restrictions to Gaza
The only way into the besieged Gaza Strip, surrounded by Israel to the north and east and Egypt to the south, is through the Israeli-controlled borders.
Before the war, around 500 trucks entered Gaza every day, carrying commercial goods and humanitarian aid, and since then the number has fallen dramatically. In August, only 1,559 trucks entered Gaza through the Kerem Shalom and Rafah crossings, even as a famine This summer, an alert was declared in parts of the Gaza Strip.
Between September 1 and 15, of the 94 planned humanitarian missions coordinated with Israeli authorities for northern Gaza, only 37 (or 39 percent) were facilitated. In total, 25 (or 27 percent) were denied access, the latest situation update of the UN Humanitarian Coordination Agency, OCHA.
In southern Gaza, of the 243 coordinated humanitarian movements, Israeli authorities facilitated only 129 (53 percent), while 41 of them (17 percent) were denied access.
OCHA cited ongoing hostilities, access restrictions and damaged infrastructure, along with the deteriorating security situation, including looting and frequent evacuation orders issued by Israel, as key factors “hindering the delivery of life-saving assistance through the Gaza Strip”.
Israel says its aid efforts are ‘unprecedented’
While senior UN officials have repeatedly called for unhindered humanitarian access, Israeli officials say the country is providing ample assistance to civilians trapped in the Strip.
Israeli Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the UN Danny Danon said Israel’s humanitarian efforts are “unparalleled.”
“We have facilitated more than a million tons of aid, including 800,000 tons of food aid,” he told reporters on a surveillance mission at UN headquarters on Monday. “We have made it clear that we are more than willing to work with cooperative agencies.”
UN Special Coordinator: Delays cost lives
Sigrid Kaag, the UN’s senior coordinator for humanitarian aid and reconstruction, is tasked with setting up a UN mechanism to accelerate the delivery of humanitarian supplies in Gaza. She and her team have had constructive meetings with Israeli authorities at the highest levels, but the need for large-scale aid in Gaza remains urgent.
“It’s not about trucks; it’s about what people as a whole need as fellow human beings“, she said at UN headquarters on Monday.
“We are looking daily at the number of trucks… that we can pick up and distribute,” she explained. “There is an ongoing discussion with the Israeli authorities about their numbers, (about) some… supplies at border crossings. It doesn’t really matter if it’s on the border. It has to be in Gaza. It has to be distributed..”
What matters is the percentage that comes in, she said. In that regard, she warned that “we are far, far away from what people need.”
In her final briefing of the Security Council Earlier on Monday, she warned that delays in aid deliveries could cost lives.
Too many obstacles
Deliveries linked to the recent UN-led emergency polio vaccination campaign demonstrated that life-saving relief supplies can indeed reach the strip in time, but aid organizations on the ground emphasize that not enough relief supplies are arriving.
“Restrictions by Israeli authorities on the import of essential goods are particularly harmful to children, pregnant women and people with weakened immune systems, and are increasing stress and anxiety in overcrowded shelters,” said a group of aid organizations that last week issued an urgent appeal for medical supplies including soap and detergent to prevent the spread of diarrheal diseases.
Other agencies have echoed that call, including the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, warning Monday that the sanitary disaster in Gaza is “getting worse by the day”.
OCHA has reported that aid convoys are being shot at or otherwise exposed to life-threatening conditions, being stopped and delayed for hours in combat zones. The World Food Programme (World Food Programme) was forced to suspend operations when Israeli forces fired on their aid convoy. To date, more than 200 UN workers have been killed by Israeli attacks in Gaza.
Some UN staff working in the Strip fear further attacks, said Sam Rose, deputy director of UNRWA affairs in Gaza, toldUN News.
Urgent needs, from soap to shelter
Multi-agency efforts are targeting specific needs through designated cluster groups, from health care to emergency shelters.
According to OCHA, humanitarian organizations specialized in health, water, sanitation and hygiene have issued an urgent appeal over the lack of access to soap, shampoo and detergent to combat diarrhea and skin infections in Gaza.
Shelter is another challenge. More than 55 evacuation orders were still in place on Monday, covering some 86 percent of Gaza, OCHA said, adding that Israel’s continued issuance of such measures without ensuring that displaced people have safe and adequate shelter is exacerbating the humanitarian crisis for hundreds of thousands of people.
According to the UN humanitarian agency, 1.13 million people need emergency kits for makeshift shelters or tents and 1.34 million people need bedding.
At least 25,000 “closure packages” (to improve temporary shelters) or 25 truckloads per week must be brought into southern Gaza for civilian use before more rain and cooler temperatures arrive in November.
According to a multi-agency initiative led by the UN Refugee Agency (UN refugee agency).
No access to northern Gaza
Urgent needs remain in the northern strip, but OCHA has not been able to reach the area for 28 days, the agency said on Monday.
“Israeli denials or impediments to access, along with other obstacles, prevent humanitarian missions from assessing needs, coordinating responses, taking in supplies, and preparing for the rainy season. in the north,” OCHA said.
According to the agency, restricted access to northern Gaza continues to affect hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people, who are in dire conditions, with severe shortages of essential goods and limited access to basic services.
