Washington (Union)
The US Central Command (Centcom) announced the delivery of more than 569 tons of humanitarian aid via the temporary pier on the coast of the Gaza Strip, while the United Nations announced that it had not received any aid via the pier during the past two days.
Centcom said in a statement yesterday that the establishment of the pier on the Gaza coast helped increase the distribution of aid to Palestinian civilians from partners in the humanitarian field.
Meanwhile, the Director-General of the World Health Organization yesterday called on Israel to lift restrictions imposed on the entry of aid into Gaza, and said that the main route for transporting emergency medical aid from Egypt through the Rafah crossing to the Gaza Strip was closed. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus added at a press conference in Geneva, “At a time when the people of Gaza are facing famine, we call on Israel to lift the blockade and allow aid to pass through. Without more aid flowing into Gaza, we cannot maintain our support for hospitals to save lives.”
Tedros said that this affected 6 hospitals and 9 primary health centers and caused 70 shelter centers to lose their medical facilities, adding, “Daily consultations decreased by about 40% and vaccinations by 50%. About 700 patients became seriously ill, and they could have been evacuated to obtain medical care in Somewhere else, stuck in a war zone.”
In this context, the senior official in the United Nations relief efforts, Edem and Surno, said that there are not enough supplies and fuel to provide any reasonable level of support to the people of Gaza who are enduring the Israeli military attack on the Strip. She added, “We no longer have words to describe what is happening in Gaza. We described it as a disaster, a nightmare, and hell on earth. It is all of this, and even worse.” Wesorno told the UN Security Council that the closure of the Rafah crossing halted the delivery of at least 82,000 metric tons of supplies, while access to the Israeli Kerem Shalom crossing was limited due to “hostilities, difficult logistical conditions, and complex coordination procedures.”
Yesterday, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said earlier that the cessation of the entry of aid through the Rafah crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip is linked to military operations that threaten humanitarian work in the region. The arrival of aid to southern Gaza has been disrupted since Israel intensified its military operations in Rafah, in a move that the United Nations says forced 900,000 people to flee. In northern Gaza, where the United Nations is warning of an imminent famine, Wesorno said the Erez crossing has been closed since May 9, and the newly opened western Erez crossing is now being used for limited amounts of aid, but areas around that crossing are also under evacuation orders.
Aid shipments began arriving at the dock established by the United States on the Gaza coast as of last Friday, at a time when Israel is under increasing global pressure to allow more supplies to enter the besieged coastal strip.
The United Nations agreed to help coordinate aid delivery and distribution at the floating dock, but the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) confirms that land crossings are the most feasible and effective way to deliver aid to Gaza. UNRWA said yesterday that food distribution in the city of Rafah is currently suspended due to a lack of supplies and a lack of security.
The United Nations said that 10 trucks loaded with food aid were transported from the dock site by United Nations contractors and arrived on Friday at a World Food Program warehouse in Deir al-Balah in Gaza. But only five trucks loaded with aid arrived at the warehouse on Saturday, after Palestinians took the loads of 11 other trucks during the trip, which passed through an area that a United Nations official indicated had witnessed a shortage of aid.
An official, who requested to remain anonymous, said that the United Nations had not received any aid shipments from the dock for the past two days, adding, “We need to ensure that the necessary security and logistical arrangements are in place before moving forward.” The United Nations also warned of a severe fuel shortage in Gaza. Wesorno said that 654,000 liters of fuel had been delivered to Gaza since May 6, a quarter of the fuel allocations it had been receiving.
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