‘Denied or postponed’: Israel continues to thwart UN aid deliveries
Less than half of the planned aid missions into northern Gaza were allowed in by Israeli authorities so far in March, the United Nations says. “That’s 11 out of 24 missions. The rest were either denied or postponed,” Farhan Haq, the deputy spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said.
“Convoys are frequently turned back even after long waits at the Gaza checkpoint. They also run the risk of aid being taken by desperate people, either at the checkpoint or along the difficult route north.
“The only way to prevent this is to ensure that enough aid can be delivered on a reliable basis. We need the Israeli military to guarantee safe, sustained and unhindered aid across Gaza, and to open up all possible entry points into Gaza,” said Haq.
Displaced Palestinians queue to receive food donated by a charity in Rafah
Entire Gaza population now 100 percent severely food insecure
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken highlighted Gaza’s deteriorating food situation where hundreds of thousands of people face famine.
“According to the most respected measure of these things, 100 percent of the population in Gaza is at severe levels of acute food insecurity. That’s the first time an entire population has been so classified,” said Blinken during an official visit to the Philippines.
“We also see, according to the United Nations, 100 percent the totality of the population is in need of humanitarian assistance. Compare that to Sudan; about 80 percent of the population there is in need of humanitarian assistance; Afghanistan, about 70 percent.”
‘Unimpeded’ access of food, medical supplies needed for Gaza: World Bank
The bank has called for “urgent action” to deal with the hunger crisis in Gaza.
“We join the international community in calling for immediate, free, and unimpeded access of medical supplies, food and life-essential services through all available means at speed and scale to the people of Gaza,” it said in a statement.
How can Israel’s genocidal war be allowed to continue?
Gaza faces famine as Israel’s assault continues using mostly Western-supplied weapons. It’s killed almost 32,000 people and wounded 74,000. People now face starvation and disease. International pressure has been little more than words.
What can stop Israel’s leader Benjamin Netanyahu and his government’s genocidal war? How much time is left for the people of Gaza?
