UN: Israel blocks 85% of its attempts to coordinate aid convoys to Gaza

New York, Nov. 12 (YPA) – The United Nations said that 85% of its attempts to coordinate aid convoys and humanitarian visits to northern Gaza were denied or obstructed by Israeli authorities last month.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said it had submitted 98 requests to the Israeli authorities for permission to cross the checkpoint along the Gaza Valley, but only 15 were granted, according to UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric.

Dujarric added that the OCHA was “concerned about the fate of Palestinians remaining in northern Gaza as the blockade continues and urgently calls on Israel to open the area to humanitarian operations to the extent necessary given the massive needs.”

He pointed out that “over the past three days, teams from OCHA, UN human rights agencies, demining and other humanitarian groups have visited nine locations in Gaza City to assess the needs of hundreds of displaced families, many of whom are returning to northern Gaza.”

In a new report published on Monday, OCHA said that humanitarian organizations submitted 50 requests to the Israeli authorities to enter northern Gaza in October, 33 of which were rejected and eight were accepted but faced obstacles, including delays, that prevented them from completing their tasks, according to the spokesman.

This comes at a time when the undeclared famine in northern Gaza is intensifying, with more than 50 days of the Israeli occupation forces preventing the entry of any aid or goods to the hundreds of thousands of residents trapped there, who are being subjected, according to UN agencies, to the most violent campaign of genocide to eliminate them through killing and forced displacement.

@E.Y.M