Aid deliveries to Gaza have fallen by two-thirds since Israel took over the Rafah crossing

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UN says aid supply ‘already insufficient to meet growing needs’ before Rafah offensive

May 30. (EUROPA PRESS) –

The United Nations has stated that aid deliveries to the Gaza Strip have fallen by more than two-thirds since the Israeli Army took control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing on the border between the enclave on May 7. and Egypt, suspending humanitarian operations in the area.

“The flow of humanitarian aid supplies to Gaza, already insufficient to meet growing needs, has fallen by 67 percent since May 7,” said the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in its latest situation report, in which it adds that “humanitarian facilities in Rafah are forced to close one after another.”

Thus, he detailed that between May 7 and 28, an average of 58 trucks with humanitarian aid entered Gaza, compared to the 176 that entered per day between April 1 and May 6. “These figures exclude private sector cargo and fuel,” he said, before adding that “no aid entered on May 27 and 28 through the temporary floating dock recently built by the US Army.”

Washington announced during the day on Tuesday that the delivery of humanitarian aid through the dock – where they arrive through the maritime corridor opened in March from Cyprus, amid criticism of Israel’s blockades on land deliveries – had left suspended after the structure has been detached and damaged due to waves.

The OCHA has stated that “since the beginning of its operations on May 17, 137 trucks with food supplies have been transferred from the dock,” according to figures from the World Food Program (WFP), while at the same time it has stressed that the hostilities and “Access limitations” have “severely” affected humanitarian operations.

Along these lines, he reiterated that “there are very limited medical supplies available in Gaza” and added that “the cancellation of missions to northern Gaza has delayed the delivery of fuel supplies and medical supplies and has prevented partners from assessing the conditions in hospitals” in this area of ​​the Palestinian enclave.

“Israeli bombing by air, land and sea continues in much of the Gaza Strip, which has caused further civilian casualties, displacement and destruction of homes and other civilian infrastructure,” he noted, with “intense fighting” in Jabalia, Nuseirat, Gaza City, Deir al Balah and Rafah.

“INSECURITY” AND “SEVERE LIMITATIONS”

In this way, he has insisted that “insecurity and serious limitations, including access to border areas and restrictions on movement between southern and northern Gaza, continue to create a volatile and disabling operating environment for humanitarian workers.” , preventing them from giving vital aid to hundreds of thousands of people throughout Gaza.

“Between May 1 and 28, of the 72 humanitarian missions coordinated with Israeli authorities to northern Gaza, 31 were facilitated, 25 were initially given the ‘green light’ but were later prevented, five did not receive access, and eleven were canceled due to humanitarian organizations,” he specified.

OCHA has further said that “of the 236 humanitarian missiles coordinated with Israeli authorities in areas in southern Gaza, 122 were facilitated, 43 were initially given the ‘green light’ but were later prevented, 32 were not granted access and 39 were canceled by humanitarian organizations”.

“In southern Gaza, military operations and movement restrictions have prevented multiple critical humanitarian missions, including preventing the collection of essential humanitarian supplies from the Kerem Shalom crossing and disrupting the rotation of humanitarian personnel in and out of Gaza,” he said. manifested.

For this reason, he has maintained that “the capacity of partners at the nutrition level to increase their operational presence and deliver the necessary services has also been undermined despite a continuous increase in cases of malnutrition detected”, with 95 percent of children between six and 23 months “eating two or fewer different food groups per day.”

“In addition, 85 percent of children did not eat for an entire day at least once in the three days prior to the survey. Lack of dietary diversity is one of the key drivers of acute malnutrition and has been identified by experts as one of the four main indicators to assess the severity of nutritional insecurity in Gaza from low to extremely critical,” he concluded.