United Nations: Israel Rejects Humanitarian Aid To Northern Gaza

ILLUSTRATION/UNSPLASH

JAKARTA - Israel has openly refused to send humanitarian aid to northern Gaza, where around 300,000-400,000 people are still displaced, said humanitarian coordinator and UN resident Lynn Hastings in Palestine.

"The Israeli government has been clear that they do not want us to send (aid) to the northern region," Hastings said at a virtual press conference in Geneva, reported by ANTARA from Anadolu, on October 27.

"So, UN staff must take security risks to provide the humanitarian assistance needed to save lives," he stressed.

On October 13, Israel called on around 1.1 million residents of the northern Gaza Strip to immediately evacuate to the southern Gaza region.

Hastings reiterated that the more than 1 million Palestinians in northern Gaza cannot simply be moved to the south amid the risk of bombing, inadequate essential services, and no safe haven.

"We must be able to distribute (aid) to the people (Palestinians in the north) and we must be able to distribute aid to wherever the people need it," he said.

He said 74 trucks had entered the Gaza Strip since October 7, and he estimated there would be eight more trucks entering today.

As many as 10 and 20 trucks a day are clearly not enough, he said.

He said there were 450 trucks of humanitarian aid that usually entered the Gaza Strip every day before the conflict broke out on October 7.

Apart from that, there were also 46 fuel trucks that used to enter Gaza every day before the conflict occurred.

Hastings said that if Israel had not blocked humanitarian aid from entering Gaza since October 7, up to now there would have been 782 trucks crossing Gaza's border with Egypt.

"I think this gives you an idea that 782 trucks should have entered (Gaza) from October 7 until now, and none of them were carrying fuel," he said.

The Israeli military prohibits fuel supplies from entering Gaza even though fuel is very important for Gaza's daily operations, including hospitals.

"Fuel must not enter the Gaza Strip. Hamas needs it to operate their infrastructure," said Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has urged Israel to allow fuel from Egypt to be sent to Gaza as urgent humanitarian aid.

"Fuel is also needed for hospital generators, ambulances, and desalination facilities," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press conference last week.