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SvennoJ on 23 August 2024
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Humanitarian access worsening in Gaza despite promises: NRC head

Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) chief Jan Egeland says Israel and its Western allies have not made good on months of promises that “the haemorrhage of civilian lives would stop and that humanitarian access would improve” in Gaza.

In a social media post, Egeland said aid workers with the NRC and other groups had to again flee their posts this week due to the violence, “abandoning our shelters, offices and warehouses”.

Israel has “progressively reduced the so-called ‘humanitarian zone’”, he added, leaving “countless civilians trapped with no means of escape”.

Aid organisations received less than half of the aid needed for the people of Gaza in April, Egeland said, and by July, the number of deliveries to starving Palestinians had dropped by another 80 percent.

“NRC aid has been blocked for months, with only 2 trucks getting through since May – one of which was looted,” he said.

Childhood malnutrition spiking in Gaza: UN

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has reported a spike in acute malnutrition among Palestinian children in Gaza in recent months.

The agency said the number of cases in northern Gaza spiked 300 percent from May to July. In the south of the enclave, it jumped by more than 150 percent during the same period.

Meanwhile, the amount of food assistance entering Gaza in July was one of the lowest since the war began, according to the agency.

Stephane Dujarric, the spokesman for UN chief Antonio Guterres, also said “hostilities, damaged roads, access constraints and a lack of public order and safety have led to critical food shortages” in the territory.

“Children are paying the heaviest price with poor diet and the decimation of healthcare services and water sanitation and hygiene infrastructure, raising the risk of malnutrition and disease,” Dujarric told reporters.



‘The heat is suffocating us’

Tens of thousands of Palestinians are enduring the sweltering summer heat, packed into makeshift tents. Palestinian journalist Bisan Owda spoke to families struggling to survive without basic necessities in a video for AJ+.

“I am 75 years old. I can’t live in a tent. The heat is suffocating us,” said Harba Abul-Aal, a Palestinian woman displaced from Rafah in southern Gaza. “I left my home with only the clothes I had on. I have no summer or winter clothes.”

Another displaced resident, Salwa Ayoush, said she places water bottles under several blankets to keep them cool enough to drink. “As for hot water, I leave a bucket out, cover it to protect it from the dust, and put it there to warm up for bathing,” she said. “What else can I do?”