Ahmed Shaaban (Cairo)
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported yesterday that estimates indicate that the cost of meeting the needs of 2.7 million people, the entire population of the Gaza Strip and 500,000 people in the West Bank, until the end of the year amounts to about 1.2 billion dollars, while the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator confirmed The United States said that there was “some progress” in the ongoing negotiations to allow fuel to enter the besieged Gaza Strip.
Last October 12, OCHA launched an initial appeal to raise $294 million to support nearly 1.3 million people. “The situation has deteriorated increasingly since then,” office spokesman Jens Laerke said.
Aid supplies to Gaza have been halted since Israel began bombing the densely populated Strip on October 7, and relief organizations say they are not even close to meeting the needs of its residents.
In addition to killing thousands, heavy bombardment by Israeli forces is hampering the ability of relief workers to deliver desperately needed supplies. The office added that its revised appeal for funding will identify needs for food, water, health care, shelter, hygiene and other urgent priorities.
“We urge donors to provide the necessary resources to respond quickly,” Larquet said. He continued: “Our ability to alleviate the suffering of the Palestinian population will depend on adequate funding, safe and sustainable access to all those in need wherever they are, and an adequate flow of humanitarian supplies and, most importantly, fuel.”
Humanitarian Coordinator Martin Griffiths said yesterday that there is “some progress” in the ongoing negotiations to allow fuel to enter the besieged Gaza Strip for the first time since the outbreak of war on October 7.
He also said during a meeting at the United Nations headquarters, in New York, about the ongoing negotiations between the organization, Israel, Egypt, and the United States: “I heard this morning upon my arrival that some progress has been made regarding allowing more fuel through these negotiations. I hope to see confirmation of this.” .
He repeated the call for a “humanitarian truce” in Gaza to help deliver aid.
An aid plane from Russia arrived at Al-Arish International Airport yesterday afternoon carrying 8 tons of food, medical supplies and water, according to Dr. Khaled Zayed, head of the Egyptian Red Crescent in North Sinai.
The plane was unloaded at the airport and then transported to the Egyptian Red Crescent warehouses in North Sinai in Al-Arish, in preparation for its later transfer to the Rafah land crossing as soon as humanitarian aid was allowed to enter the Gaza Strip.
An official security source at Al-Arish Airport in North Sinai said that this is the third plane that Al-Arish Airport received yesterday. Thus, the total number of aircraft received by Al-Arish Airport since the start of the war on Gaza until yesterday reached 74 aircraft that transported more than 1,660 tons of various aid, in addition to the humanitarian aid arriving from Cairo amounting to approximately 4,500 tons. As of last Tuesday evening, the number of humanitarian aid trucks that had entered the Gaza Strip reached 276.
In addition, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) added the Palestinian territories yesterday to the list of countries and regions in need of external food aid, according to data collected before the outbreak of the war. The organization said: “In Palestine, according to the 2023 Humanitarian Needs Survey, it was estimated between May and July 2022 (the data collection period) that 1.5 million people (28 percent of the population) suffer from acute food insecurity and need immediate assistance: 1.2 million People in the Gaza Strip and 353 thousand people in the West Bank.
The FAO added in its crop outlook and food situation report, which is published three times a year, “The escalation of the war in October 2023 will likely lead to an increased need for humanitarian and emergency aid, while access to affected areas remains a source of concern.”
For its part, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said that the situation in the occupied West Bank is “worrying” and requires “urgent” action, while emphasizing the violence practiced by Israeli settlers against Palestinians. Elizabeth Throssell, spokeswoman for the High Commission, said during a regular briefing in Geneva that the situation in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is “worrying and calls for urgent action in light of the continuing increasing violations of a different nature.”
The Palestinian Authority reported that about 140 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since the start of the war in the Gaza Strip.
Throssell said that entire Palestinian communities are being forced to leave their lands due to these acts of violence, considering that this “may amount to a forced transfer of populations in serious violation” of the Geneva Convention.
Meanwhile, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Taiani said yesterday that seven Italians and three of their Palestinian relatives left the Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing to Egypt, adding that “they are all in good health.”
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