Some progress has been made in feeding Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip, but the starvation-ravaged enclave, devastated by Israeli shelling, remains in need of urgent humanitarian assistance, the United Nations said.
The United Nations and its partners have been able to deliver 37,000 tonnes of aid, mainly food, to Gaza since the October 10 ceasefire, but more is needed, United Nations spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters on Friday.
Recommended stories
list of 3 itemsend of list
“Despite significant progress in scaling up humanitarian assistance, people’s urgent needs remain enormous and obstacles are not being removed quickly enough even after the ceasefire,” Haq said, citing a report by the U.N. humanitarian agency OCHA.
Mr. Haq criticized that the entry of humanitarian supplies into Gaza continues to be limited to two crossings: Al-Qalala (also known as Kisfim) and Karem Abu Salem (Kelem Shalom) crossings.
There is no direct access from Israel to northern Gaza or from Egypt to southern Gaza, and NGO staff are denied access, he said.
Earlier this week, the United Nations said it had distributed food parcels to one million people in Gaza since the ceasefire, but warned the race to save lives was still on.
The United Nations’ World Food Program stressed that all borders entering the Gaza Strip should be opened to allow large quantities of aid to reach the famine-hit region, adding that there was no indication why the northern border with Israel would remain closed.
Palestinians across Gaza continue to face shortages of food, water, medicine, and other critical supplies as a result of Israeli restrictions.
Two years of Israeli military bombing have completely destroyed homes and neighborhoods, leaving many families without proper shelter.
Chris Ganes, a former spokesman for the Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA, said Israel was committing a war crime by blocking aid to Gaza.
Ganes pointed out in an interview with Al Jazeera that tens of thousands of Palestinians, mainly children, remain at risk of malnutrition. He also said that if Israel does not meet its obligations to “flood the Gaza Strip with humanitarian aid,” third countries will have to act.
“Israel has made it clear that it wants to commit genocide against the Palestinian people, ethnically cleanse them and starve them to death,” he said.
The bodies of the prisoners were returned.
The ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect on October 10 after both sides agreed to a 20-point plan, brokered by the United States, aimed at ending the war. However, since the announcement, Israel has launched repeated attacks, leaving dozens of people dead, with troops stationed in more than 50% of the territory.
More than 220 Palestinians have been killed since the ceasefire took effect, according to the enclave’s health ministry.
Israel has also repeatedly destroyed parts of the Gaza Strip that it continues to control east of the so-called Yellow Line, where Israeli forces are stationed.
The latest demolition on Friday also included residential buildings east of Khan Yunis in southern Gaza, according to Al Jazeera reporters on the Strip.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office confirmed that Israel had received the remains of one of the last six prisoners held by Hamas in Gaza from the Red Cross.
The Israeli military later confirmed that the coffin containing the body of the deceased prisoner “crossed the border into the State of Israel” after being handed over by the Red Cross.
The body has been sent to a forensic facility in Tel Aviv for identification, it said.
At the start of the ceasefire, Hamas’ armed forces, the Qassam Brigades, released all 20 surviving prisoners. In return, Israel released hundreds of Palestinian political prisoners from Gaza, including the bodies of murdered Palestinians, many of which bore signs of torture.
Of the 28 deceased Israeli prisoners of war that Hamas agreed to hand over under the agreement, so far 22 have been returned: 19 Israelis, one Thai, one Nepali, and one Tanzanian, excluding the most recent bodies.
The last six prisoners to die include five prisoners (four Israelis and one Thai) seized on October 7, 2023, and the bodies of soldiers killed during Israel’s previous attack on Gaza in 2014.
Israel accused Hamas of dragging its feet in returning the bodies of dead prisoners. Palestinian groups said they continue to call for adequate equipment and support to clear the vast pile of rubble where some 10,000 Palestinians killed in Israeli shelling are still buried.
More than 68,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s two-year war.
