Lazzarini says increase in aid trucks to Gaza needs to be sustained
The head of UNRWA has said on X that “more than 310 trucks of aid” entered Gaza yesterday, adding that this is the highest number of trucks since October 7.
“This shows that when there is a will there is a way. It needs now to be sustained and further increased. Trucks should include both commercial and humanitarian supplies so that the markets can re-open” he said.
Earlier, we reported on comments from David Satterfield, the US’s special humanitarian envoy, who said that the risk of famine in Gaza is “very high”.
Lazzarini said that famine in northern Gaza can be averted, but only with “meaningful and uninterrupted supply [of aid], including through UNRWA”.
In an interview today, he told Al Jazeera that Israel’s ongoing campaign to dismantle and discredit his agency would spell disaster for Palestinians facing famine in Gaza, as UNRWA is the only agency with the infrastructure in place in the Strip to supply adequate humanitarian assistance.
Some good news for #Gaza
Yesterday, more than 310 trucks of aid entered.
This is the highest # since the war began on 7 October.
This shows that when there is a will there is a way.
It needs now to be sustained & further increased.
Trucks should include both commercial and… pic.twitter.com/n0IsgH1VyK
— Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) April 23, 2024
27 were for the private sector, 316 total, 289 for the various aid organizations. It's a record nonetheless. And still only half of what's needed daily now.
Tent encampments expand in southern Gaza as Israel prepares Rafah ground invasion
The AP news agency says satellite photos show the expansion of tents set up near Rafah in southern Gaza as the Israeli military prepares for a ground offensive on the area where more than 1 million Palestinian people have sought shelter from the war.
A Palestinian health official told the AP that the tent camp was being set up to house displaced people who are now sheltering in a hospital and is not related to the impending Israeli military operation.
Aid workers and foreign governments are warning of a catastrophe should Israeli troops invade Rafah.
This combination aerial images shows an area before a tent camp was built near Rafah in Gaza on April 7, 2024, left, and after the tents were built on April 23, 2024
This satellite image shows tent camps for displaced Palestinians in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on April 23
They had not started yet?
US military to begin construction of Gaza sea platform, aid pier ‘very soon’
The US will soon begin construction of a pier to boost aid deliveries by sea to Gaza, the Pentagon said. “All the necessary vessels are within the Mediterranean region and standing by,” Pentagon spokesman Major General Pat Ryder told journalists.
“We are positioned to begin construction very soon,” Ryder said.
According to the French news agency AFP, the US plans to establish an offshore platform for the transfer of aid from larger to smaller vessels, and a pier to bring it ashore in the Gaza Strip.
US officials have said the construction will not involve US soldiers on the ground in Gaza, but troops will come close to Gaza as they construct the pier. Israeli forces will provide security for the construction operation, AFP reports.
