All land crossings must be reopened for effective Gaza aid: UN
“In less than two weeks, nearly half of the population of Gaza has been once again forcibly displaced, all of them in dire need of assistance,” said Olga Cherevko, a UN aid worker in Gaza.
“We continue to face immense challenges amidst extreme insecurity and running out of supplies. Imagine how much more effective we could be if all land routes were to open and this war finally ended and Gaza could once again live and breathe without fear.”
With scant resources and an unreliable supply network, humanitarians in #Gaza must be quick and creative in delivering aid amid massive challenges.
But for a more effective response, they need all land routes open and an end to the war.
Hear from our colleague, Olga Cherevko 👇 pic.twitter.com/14dOf5qBP4
— UN Humanitarian (@UNOCHA) May 25, 2024
What happened to the US floating pier aimed at delivering aid to Gaza?
It’s still a bit confusing what happened, but what we know according to US Central Command is that four pieces of what they call US army vessels broke free from the moorings due to heavy seas and drifted off to the sea.
What’s unclear is whether these vessels were actually tied together to form the pier itself or whether they were used for transport.
According to the Pentagon, two of the pieces were recovered and are anchored at the beach now and not in operation. Two others drifted so far north that they went past the Gaza Strip and are beached near the town of Ashkelon in Israel.
The Pentagon says the pier remains “fully functional”. They say there were no injuries, and they emphasise that during this operation there were still no US boots on the ground in Gaza and no soldiers will enter Gaza.
The $350m pier seems to be a complicated workaround for a problem that has a much simpler solution – for Israel to open land crossings to Gaza.
Fully functional yet no aid coming in :/
News of particularly bad atrocity comes out (attack on Al-Nazla elementary school, young children killed) internet gets shut down...
https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/25/middleeast/drone-attack-school-jabalya-gaza-intl-latam/index.html
Paltel reports internet disruptions in northern Gaza
The Palestine Telecommunications Company (Paltel) has announced in a post on X that fixed internet services in Gaza and the northern Gaza Strip are facing disruptions due to ongoing Israeli attacks.
“Our crews are working hard to restore services as quickly as possible,” it said.
The Israeli military has been expanding its ground invasion of northern Gaza in recent weeks, heavily damaging infrastructure in the area while killing many Palestinians.
Internet observatory confirms internet disruptions across Gaza
The Netblocks watchdog confirms Palestinians across the Gaza Strip are experiencing disruptions to internet connectivity amid Israeli attacks. The disruptions, observed in Rafah, Deir el-Balah, Khan Younis and Gaza City are “likely to limit coverage of events on the ground”, the UK-based monitor said.
Since the beginning of the war on October 7, internet traffic in the Gaza Strip has undergone multiple blackouts and shutdowns. The outages also have made it extremely challenging to document and share information about what is happening on the ground.
⚠ Confirmed: Live metrics show a disruption to connectivity in the #Gaza Strip; the incident comes amid ongoing Israeli operations in the region and is likely to limit coverage of events on the ground 📉 pic.twitter.com/YE1y995MSX
— NetBlocks (@netblocks) May 25, 2024
