UN emergency relief coordinator Tom Fletcher visited Rafah on Gaza’s southern border from the Egyptian capital Cairo on Thursday, describing the main Rafah crossing point as “a vital lifeline for food, medicine, tents and other vital aid.”
He told BBC Radio 4 that the role of the “collective international community” was essential in delivering aid, adding that he was in very close contact with the White House.who are determined that we are allowed to deliver at scale.”
The United Nations agency that supports Palestinian refugees,UNRWAsaid it had enough food supplies outside Gaza to sustain the population for three months, but said Israeli authorities were still blocking its entry despite the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
Displaced Palestinians use the coastal road to return to northern Gaza.
UNRWA remains the backbone
UNRWA spokesperson Adnan Abu Hasna said UN News that with its unprecedented aid distribution network, the agency must be the “backbone” of the increased relief effort, and that if Israel continues to exclude them, it would mean “a loss of people’s trust.”
“We see absolutely no justification for Israel not to authorize this massive aid. – which cost tens of millions of dollars – in the country.
He said around 12,000 staff members are still working in Gaza, including some 8,000 teachers, who are working to enable 640,000 students to return to school after two years of lost education.
UNRWA also played a key role in providing psychological support in the form of approximately 800,000 consultations. Ninety percent of UNRWA facilities were destroyed, 370 colleagues were killed in Gaza: “The only thing that has changed for us is our inability to distribute food, even though we have the logistical capabilities.“, he said.
Meanwhile, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said it had more than 1,300 trucks full of vital supplies ready to go, stressing that humanitarian needs remained immense.
Still in limbo
UNICEF spokesperson Tess Ingram, speaking on the ground in a social media post Thursday, described the ongoing challenges facing relief teams as they wait for access to provide life-saving aid.
“Nine out of ten houses in the Gaza Strip have been damaged or destroyed,” she said. “It means that families from all over the Gaza Strip are returning to a place like this, the skeleton of a city, the shell of a building, and trying to make sense of how they move forward. »
UN Aid Coordination Office OCHA said supplies from Egypt still have to make a long detour to the Kerem Shalom terminal for Israeli checks, while waiting for the Rafah terminal to open for aid.
Relief chief Fletcher stressed the need for all crossing points to be open to allow a massive increase in aid.
“The humanitarian community cannot act on the necessary scale without the presence and commitment of international NGOs,” UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said at a press briefing in New York on Thursday.
“Currently, Israeli authorities do not issue visas to a number of international NGOs and do not allow many of them to send materials to Gaza. »
Mr. Dujarric highlighted some specific improvements in the delivery of UN aid: “On Tuesday alone, 21 of our partners distributed nearly 960,000 meals in 175 kitchens. The bakeries we support have produced more than 100,000 two-kilogram packages of bread. UNICEF has distributed more than a million baby diapers.
Lifesaving medical supplies
The World Health Organization (WHO) was able to deliver three truckloads of surgical supplies and other essential medical supplies to the central pharmacy in Gaza City, which will be transferred to Al-Shifa Hospital, meeting the needs of approximately 10,000 people.
WHO also deployed an international emergency medical team to strengthen orthopedic surgery and trauma care in Gaza.
UN teams have also finished clearing the main roads leading to the Erez and Zikim crossings in the destroyed areas of northern Gaza, in preparation for their possible reopening.
Publicado anteriormente en Almouwatin.
