UN says Israel blocked several humanitarian missions in Gaza
The UN says Israeli authorities blocked several humanitarian missions in the Gaza Strip, including one aimed at reaching a wastewater treatment plant in Khan Younis, limiting aid to civilians in urgent need.
Citing the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said during a news conference that the UN teams “attempted to coordinate eight humanitarian missions, five of which were fully facilitated”.
“The three other missions, including one to reach a wastewater treatment plant in Khan Younis, were denied by the Israeli authorities,” he said.
“Four months since the ceasefire agreement came into effect, the humanitarian scale-up has saved countless lives and pushed back famine in Gaza.” However, he said, many Palestinians live in “extremely harsh conditions”, and the “humanitarian response faces significant obstacles”.
Diplomat overseeing Gaza says ‘violations of ceasefire’ threaten transitional governance
The top diplomat overseeing the US-brokered “ceasefire” deal in Gaza says that continued violations of the agreement pose major obstacles to the Palestinian committee expected to oversee postwar governance and reconstruction.
Nickolay Mladenov, who serves as high representative for Gaza for the US-established Board of Peace, spoke during a panel discussion at the Munich Security Conference. The international board, established by US President Donald Trump, is set to meet next week.
“We need to make sure that what is happening now with the violations of the ceasefire stops,” Mladenov said. “We’re only embarrassing the committee and ultimately making it ineffective.”
Mladenov didn’t lay out a specific timeline but said “all of this needs to move very fast”.
