Humanitarian Situation in Gaza Worsens Again, Britain to Japan Urges Israel to Lift Restrictions

Illustration of the queue of vehicles carrying humanitarian aid in Raffah. (Twitter/@RowanAdel31)

JAKARTA - The humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, Palestine, has deteriorated again and is very worrying, said a joint statement by Britain, Canada, France and other countries on Tuesday, calling on Israel to take immediate action.

The statement, published online by the British Foreign Office, said Israel must allow non-governmental organizations to work in Israel in a sustainable and predictable manner, and ensure the United Nations can continue its work in the Palestinian territories.

"(We) express serious concern about the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza, which remains very bad," read a statement from the foreign ministers of Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Japan, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, as reported by Al Arabiya from Reuters (31/12).

The statement further said that Israel must lift what it called "unreasonable restrictions" on certain imports including medical equipment and shelters, opening the border to increase the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza.

Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire in October after two years of bombing and an intensive Israeli military operation in Gaza that followed a deadly attack by Hamas-led fighters on Israeli communities in October 2023.

Previously, the global hunger watchdog said on December 19, there was no more famine in Gaza after access for humanitarian and commercial food shipments improved after the ceasefire.

However, humanitarian agencies say much more aid needs to get into the small, densely populated territory, while Israel is blocking the entry of needed goods.

Israel itself said that the incoming food was more than enough and the problem lay in distribution within Gaza.