UN wants to see Israel allow more aid into Strip as per agreement
Farhan Haq, deputy spokesperson for the UN secretary-general, tells Al Jazeera’s Gabriel Elizondo that at no point since the ceasefire went into effect have 600 UN trucks entered Gaza on any given day.
“We want the Israeli authorities to allow in more trucks at more crossing points, we’ve made that clear,” he said.
He said that overall, more UN trucks and more commercial trucks have entered Gaza since the ceasefire, a welcome sign. However, during Israel’s war, prior to the ceasefire, aid levels were staggeringly low, enough to cause a UN-backed monitor to declare famine in several areas of the enclave.
Israelis gather to block aid heading to Gaza near border
Video gathered by Reuters news agency shows extremist Israelis attempting to block aid trucks heading to the Gaza Strip near the Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) border crossing, one of just two opened by Israel after the ceasefire went into effect.
This is not the first time Israelis have gathered to try to block life-saving aid to the Gaza Strip, where our correspondents report that the hunger crisis remains acute despite a pause in Israeli bombings.
People’s health ‘direly impacted by poor living conditions’ in Gaza: MSF
More than one million people are still being forced to survive on a tiny patch of land, and in dangerous living conditions in southern Gaza, says Doctors Without Borders (MSF).
The organisation said in a written statement that the displacement, along with the massive destruction of civilian infrastructure and the health system by Israeli forces, is creating the perfect storm for disease and illness to spread.
“Israeli authorities should immediately allow a massive scale-up of humanitarian assistance to flow freely into Gaza,” it said.
MSF stressed that Israel’s “two-year-long genocidal campaign” has left people “traumatised, injured, and dangerously exposed to the elements as winter approaches”.
“Without immediate improvements to water, sanitation, shelter, and nutrition, more people will die from entirely preventable causes,” it also said.
