UN Chief details how Israel prevents aid reaching Palestinians in Gaza, occupied territory
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has detailed how Israel prevents humanitarian assistance from reaching Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, in a new report [PDF].
Here are some of the ways the UN chief’s report says Israel is obstructing humanitarian access:
- Physical obstacles – Israeli barriers, checkpoints, roadblocks and gates
- Restrictions on goods – restricting the entry of all imports, including food and fuel into Gaza
- Restrictions on humanitarian workers – International UN staff have had difficulties obtaining work visas; Palestinian UN staff denied entry to occupied East Jerusalem to get to their place of work
- Administrative barriers – such as Israel’s “building permit regime”
Palestinians cross an Israeli checkpoint to attend Friday prayers during the holy fasting month of Ramadan, in Hebron’s Old City in the Israeli-occupied West Bank in March 2024
Israeli settlers in Jericho block aid trucks heading to Gaza: Reports
Israeli settlers have reportedly gathered at the eastern entrance to the occupied West Bank city of Jericho to block humanitarian aid trucks heading towards the Gaza Strip, the Wafa news agency reports.
Witnesses at the scene told Wafa that the group of settlers had gathered in the vicinity of the al-Karameh, or Allenby, bridge border crossing that links Jordan to the West Bank, while footage published by local media appears to show an Israeli car driver driving intentionally slow in front of a truck to impede its progress.
Far-right Israeli activists have intercepted trucks delivering humanitarian aid to the Palestinian enclave on several occasions in recent months, attacking drivers and destroying the contents of their trucks.
مصادر صحفية: مستوطنون يعرقلون شاحنات المساعدات المتجهة إلى قطاع غزة في منطقة تل عراد جنوب فلسطين المحتلة. pic.twitter.com/M1d2OSYm6c
— المركز الفلسطيني للإعلام (@PalinfoAr) June 20, 2024
Translation: Settlers obstruct aid trucks heading to the Gaza Strip in the Tel Arad area in southern occupied Palestine.
Fisherman could be a lifeline for Palestinians, but Israel is killing them
The sea is both a source of livelihood for Palestinian fishermen and part of their identity.
Mostafa Abu Amera risks his life every day, rowing out on the waves off the coast of Gaza, under Israeli surveillance, to net the occasional fish on which his hungry family have come to rely.
“We are forced to go to sea and fish to feed our children,” he says. “Last week, I lost my brother-in-law who was also a fisherman.”
With Israel blocking humanitarian aid deliveries to the Gaza Strip, these fishermen could be a lifeline for Palestinians. But Israel’s war has effectively shut down the fishing industry, adding to the widespread hunger and starvation.
