UNRWA renews call for long-term ceasefire
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has said that it is ready to distribute aid throughout Gaza, where starvation deaths continue to rise.
“Our teams are ready: UNRWA has over 10,000 staff in Gaza. When aid gets in, they will give it directly and with dignity and safety to the communities we serve. We have the reach, network, know-how and the trust of those communities,” UNRWA said in a social media post.
“Meanwhile, we call once again for a long-term ceasefire as part of an agreement that would bring respite to starving people, an uninterrupted flow of basic supplies as well as the release of all hostages.”
Gaza authorities say famine ‘expanding’, becoming more ‘brutal’
In a statement, Gaza’s Government Media Office says that only 73 aid trucks entered the Gaza Strip today, far short of the 600 trucks that major international humanitarian organisations say are needed, at minimum, to stem the mass starvation already taking place.
The media office also said that the meagre aid airdropped by Israel into Gaza landed in dangerous combat zones, and was watched over by Israeli forces.
“We witnessed three airdrops, which combined did not equal the load of two truckloads of aid,” the statement says.
“What is happening is a farce in which the international community is complicit through false promises or misleading information.”
Group of US senators express ‘grave concern’ over GHF operations in Gaza
A group of 20 US senators have penned a letter to State Secretary Marco Rubio expressing “grave concern” over US support for the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) in the Strip, where Israeli forces and contractors have been systematically attacking Palestinians waiting for aid.
“Blurring the lines between delivery of aid and security operations shatters well-established norms that have governed distribution of humanitarian aid since the ratification of the Geneva Conventions in 1949,” the letter states.
“We urge you to immediately cease all US funding for GHF and resume support for existing UN-led aid coordination mechanisms and enhanced oversight to ensure that humanitarian aid reaches civilians in need.”
