‘Very little’ UK humanitarian aid reaching Gaza, watchdog says
Israel is still blocking the majority of UK-provided humanitarian aid from entering Gaza, the Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) said in a report published today.
“While the UK has significantly increased aid to Gaza in response to the crisis, it’s clear that very little is reaching those who urgently need it,” said Tamsyn Barton, the aid watchdog’s chief commissioner. She added that “ineffective” diplomatic attempts to improve humanitarian access to Gaza show “how fragile the system underpinning international humanitarian law is”.
The ICAI report said that many items, including stone fruit, were rejected as “dual use”, meaning items that “might benefit Hamas or be used as a weapon”.
The UK government has contributed an additional 70 million pounds ($89m) in humanitarian funding to Palestine since October last year, when the current conflict broke out.
Video captures Palestinian truck driver’s refusal to stop for Israeli settlers blocking Gaza aid
As hardline and ultra-right-wing Israeli settlers ambush and destroy humanitarian aid shipments transported by road to war-torn Gaza, our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic have shared video footage of one Palestinian truck driver who refused to be stopped.
In the brief video clip, the driver can be seen blasting his horn and moving forward despite the Israeli settlers using their bodies to try and stop the truck on a motorway.
The protesters eventually jump clear of the truck as it proceeds on its journey.
سائق شاحنة فلسطيني يرفض التوقف أمام المستوطنين الإسرائيليين في القدس المحتلة #فيديو #حرب_غزة pic.twitter.com/tw4Dl7zB5f
— الجزيرة فلسطين (@AJA_Palestine) May 20, 2024
Al-Awda Hospital under siege: WHO
The hospital in Gaza’s northern city of Jabalia has been besieged for two days as fighting rages nearby, trapping 170 staff, patients and their companions inside, says World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Yesterday, the fighting reached the hospital itself, with snipers aiming at the building and an artillery rocket hitting its fifth floor, according to Tedros.
“We are deeply concerned about the safety of the remaining patients and hospital staff,” he said in a post on X. “We appeal for their protection, for humanitarian access and an immediate ceasefire.”
Al-Awda Hospital is one of the few health facilities still operating in northern Gaza, and the only hospital to offer maternity or orthopaedic surgery care.
