UN Says Israel Rejects Majority Of Aid Coordination Efforts To Gaza

Illustration of humanitarian aid convoys in Gaza. (Source: IDF)

JAKARTA - The United Nations said 85 percent of its efforts to coordinate aid convoys and humanitarian visits to northern Gaza were rejected or blocked by Israeli authorities last month.

The United Nations Office for Humanitarian Affairs Coordination (OCHA) said it had submitted 98 requests to Israeli authorities for permission to cross checkpoints along the Gaza Valley, but only 15 were granted, according to UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric, quoted from WAFA November 12.

Dujarric said OCHA was "concern about the fate of the remaining Palestinians in northern Gaza as the blockade continued and urged Israel to open the area to humanitarian operations as far as necessary given the enormous need."

He pointed out, "Over the past three days, teams from OCHA, the UN human rights agency, mine disposal, 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 humanitarian organizations submitted 50 requests to Israeli authorities to enter northern Gaza in October, 33 of which were rejected and eight were accepted but faced obstacles, including delays, which prevented them from completing their duties, according to the spokesman.

It is known, this is happening at a time when hunger not announced in northern Gaza is getting worse, with more than 50 days of Israeli occupation forces preventing the entry of aid or any items to hundreds of thousands of people trapped there, which UN agencies say is the target of the most violent genocide campaign to eliminate them through killings and forced transfers.