Gaza - New York: Europe and the Arabs
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that during the first two weeks of this month, the Israeli authorities only facilitated the arrival of 11 humanitarian missions out of 24 that were planned to go to northern Gaza, as the rest of the missions were refused entry or were postponed. He added that the restrictions imposed on the delivery of aid to Gaza continue to impede the arrival of life-saving supplies, especially to hundreds of thousands of residents in the northern Gaza Strip. According to a publication on the United Nations daily news website.
United Nations humanitarian workers affirmed their determination to continue helping the people of Gaza, as the number of children on the brink of death due to acute hunger increases.
Dr. Margaret Harris, spokeswoman for the World Health Organization, said, “Doctors and health workers are telling us that they are seeing more and more the effects of hunger on people in Gaza. They are seeing newborns dying because they are born weighing too little. Increasingly, we are seeing children on the verge of death and needing nutritional care.”
As malnutrition rates rise sharply in northern Gaza, the World Health Organization supports the establishment of a nutrition center in Kamal Adwan Hospital, the only children's hospital in the northern Gaza Strip. The organization supports a center in Rafah to treat children suffering from complications of acute malnutrition. It also contributes to establishing another center in Rafah in a field hospital.
OCHA has repeatedly stressed the need for the Israeli army to ensure safe, sustainable and unhindered access to various parts of Gaza, and to open all possible crossing points into the Strip. The United Nations confirms that land routes are the only way to deliver aid in the amount required to prevent famine.
Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for the United Nations, said that sending aid to northern Gaza requires obtaining daily approvals from the Israeli authorities. He stated that convoys of trucks are often returned without being allowed to enter, even after a long wait at the Wadi Gaza checkpoint.
He pointed out the dangers of aid being taken by desperate people either at the checkpoint or along the difficult road to the north. The spokesman stressed that the only way to prevent this is to ensure the delivery of sufficient aid.
The World Food Program estimates that just meeting basic food needs will require at least 300 trucks entering Gaza every day and distributing food, especially in the north.
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification issued a report on Monday, stating that famine is imminent in the northern part of the Strip and is expected to occur between the middle of this month and May. He stated that all Gazans face crisis levels of food insecurity or worse.