Palestinians queue at Rafah’s last remaining food distribution centre
Situation in Gaza ‘traumatising’ for humanitarian aid workers: UN coordinator
Martin Griffiths, UN humanitarian affairs coordinator, has told Al Jazeera that the situation in Gaza is unlike anything he has ever seen during his career.
“When very, very experienced humanitarian aid workers, who have been in all kinds of places around the world for decades, when they go to Gaza – to help, to serve, to work – it is traumatising for them. So, God help what it must be for the people of Gaza. It is really difficult and it’s getting worse daily,” he said.
He added that the Americans were not succeeding in their advocacy with the Israelis to open the land crossings, which are crucial to aid delivery.
“We meet with Israelis daily through COGAT, the committee set up for this purpose. We have many detailed discussions with them about security, about the movement of our trucks and convoys, about the priorities for fuel, but the fact of the matter is, we are not in a position to provide proper aid to the people of Gaza. Right now, it’s not ever been quite as difficult as it is today,” Griffiths said.
“Much more can be done and ideally, obviously and hopefully this [Israeli military] operation needs to stop.”
‘Safe, sustained access’ into and across Gaza needed to prevent famine: WFP
The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has said it is concerned that recent evacuation orders by the Israeli military, which it called a sign of expected escalation in fighting, will jeopardise access to Western Erez crossing and risk progress made to get more aid into northern Gaza.
“We need safe, sustained access into and across Gaza to prevent famine,” WFP said in a post on X.
WFP is concerned that recent evacuation orders - a sign of expected escalation in fighting - will jeopardize access to West Erez crossing and risk progress made to get more aid into northern #Gaza.
We need safe, sustained access into and across Gaza to prevent famine. pic.twitter.com/kH5x7p9zz2
— World Food Programme (@WFP) May 19, 2024
Palestinians gather by Gaza coast in the hope of obtaining aid
Palestinians gather in the hope of obtaining humanitarian aid delivered into the besieged enclave through the US-built pier, as seen from central Gaza Strip.
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