OCHA warns aid facilities shut down due to Israeli incursions into Gaza

Anjali Sharma

GG News Bureau
UNITED NATIONS, 31st May. UN humanitarians warned on Thursday that the flow of vital lifesaving aid into Gaza has fallen by over two thirds since the Israeli military stepped up its military campaign in Rafah and seized the key aid conduit with reported street battles and Israeli bombardment across Gaza.

OCHA reported that kitchens, clinics and hospitals are shutting down stated “Humanitarian facilities in Rafah are forced to close one after another. The flow of humanitarian aid supplies into Gaza insufficient to meet the soaring needs has dropped by 67 per cent since 7 May”.

It said that Israeli troops seized and closed the Rafah border crossing in the south of the Gaza it had been the key entry point for food, water, fuel and medicine into Gaza as well as the route for sick and wounded people to leave for treatment.

WFP warned that there was little the agency “can currently do in Rafah, with stocks very low and mobility severely restricted”.

According to WFP, the West Erez crossing in northern Gaza “is functional, but not reliable”. Gate 96 south and the Erez crossing are also “inaccessible” and access is so “constrained” to southern parts of Gaza that it risks causing the same catastrophic levels of hunger witnessed in the north.

Israeli military said that it had secured “tactical control” of a narrow 13 kilometre (eight mile) stretch of land between Gaza and Egypt.

Israeli Defence Forces spokesperson in a statement on Wednesday claimed that rocket launchers had been used to attack Israel from the Philadelphi Corridor.

Israeli official told national radio that fighting in Gaza could be expected to last until the end of the year, at least.

The 2.2 million people of Gaza is exclusively dependent on humanitarian assistance, including food.

OCHA said that aid supplies have been delivered on the Palestinian side of the Kerem Abu Salem, or Kerem Shalom, crossing located close to Rafah.

UN humanitarians have stressed that it is not safe to fetch them after ongoing hostilities, impassable roads, unexploded weapons, fuel shortages and delays at checkpoints.

“Adults and children are beyond exhausted from constant displacement, hunger, and fear,” WFP said in its latest situation update.

“They are desperate for the war to end, as are humanitarian workers on the ground, who are largely displaced and dispersed along with the people they are meant to serve.”

The aid officials have reiterated the responsibility of Israel as the occupying power to ensure that aid reaches those who need it, in line with international humanitarian law.

WFP confirmed that lifesaving aid relief and fuel from Egypt had crossed into Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing.

“This is an important step, but we need sustained access. We need all border crossings and crossing points within Gaza to be open,” it said.

It added that some commercial goods had reached the enclave, “people cannot afford the high prices”.

“We need more aid to enter through the south because people need dietary diversity, access to healthcare and water.”

WFP said that in the north, aid teams are distributing food parcels, wheat flour, hot meals and supporting bakeries.

It is prioritising hot meals to reach more people with fewer resources.

The agency noted that faster assistance is now possible thanks to a recently introduced self-registration tool that allows people to update their location.

WFP stated that 4 bakeries now operate in Gaza City and 1 opened in Jabalia, providing bread in the north. Out of the 17 bakeries WFP operates in Gaza, only 11 are functioning owing to the lack of fuel and other essentials.

WHO said that in Rafah the healthcare situation remains perilous, with only one hospital still functional, referring to Al Emirati Maternity Hospital. This compares with three partially functional hospitals earlier this month.

“Najjar Hospital was evacuated on 7 May and Al Kuwaiti Hospital in Rafah ceased operations on 27 May,” WHO said after the 2 medical staff were killed when the hospital’s gate was hit.

The field hospital and kitchen run by UN partners the Palestinian Red Crescent and World Central Kitchen has been closed.

Some 36,171 Palestinians have been killed and 81,420 injured in Gaza, OCHA said, cited Gazan health authorities.

“Mass casualties” reported after an unconfirmed airstrike on a site for forcibly displaced people in the coastal Al Mawasi area, southwest of Rafah. The UN aid office cited the Gazan ministry of health, which reported 21 fatalities and 21 injuries.