UNITED NATIONS, May 28 (NNN-XINHUA) – The video, showing thousands of desperate Gazans rushing for aid is heartbreaking, said a UN spokesman, yesterday.
“We have been watching the video coming out of Gaza, around one of the distribution points, set up by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), and frankly, these video images are heartbreaking, to say the least,” said Stephane Dujarric, chief spokesman for UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres.
The GHF is a U.S. operation, endorsed by the Israeli regime, and designed to replace the UN-run humanitarian effort, to deliver aid to Gazans. The Israeli regime alleges, the world body allows Hamas operatives to divert some of the aid the United Nations and its partners deliver to Gaza for the use of Hamas and to influence Gazans.
The world body maintains its system of fair aid distribution, which operates by international humanitarian law. In contrast, the GHF system attempts to guarantee its aid goes only to those it determines are not associated with Hamas.
The spokesman recounted that, the secretary-general last week said that, the United Nations and its partners have a detailed, principled, operationally sound plan – supported by UN member states – to get aid to a desperate population.
“We continue to stress that a meaningful scale-up of humanitarian operations is essential, to stave off famine and meet the needs of all civilians, wherever they are,” Dujarric told a briefing.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said, continued bombardment and shelling across the Gaza Strip has had horrific impacts on civilians.
The Gaza health authorities reported dozens of people murdered, and more than 150 injured in the past 24 hours, OCHA said, yesterday.
The office said that, on Sunday night, a school sheltering displaced people in Ad Daraj in eastern Gaza City was hit, igniting a fire and killing 36 people, including women and children. Many of the bodies were reportedly severely burned.
“The Zionist Israeli forces claimed to have targeted what they said was a Hamas and Islamic Jihad command and control complex,” OCHA said.
The office said that, thousands of people continue to be displaced by the attacks. It said that, on Monday, another Israeli displacement order, covering about 155 square kilometres in Rafah, Khan Younis and central Gaza, affected more than 60 neighbourhoods, representing more than 40 percent of the Gaza Strip. The latest order overlaps with previous displacement ones.
In North Gaza, OCHA said, its partners report that, sites for internally displaced people in Beit Hanoun, Izbat Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya are nearly empty, in wake of Israeli displacement orders. In Asaliya near Jabalya, one displacement site continues to host hundreds of families, who chose to stay, despite recent displacement orders, saying they had no alternative.
The humanitarians said, in Khan Younis, displaced people continue to live in the open. Many are physically exhausted and frail, after having walked long distances on damaged roads with no food to sustain them.
Since the renewed escalation of hostilities on March 18, OCHA and its partners estimate that more than 632,000 Palestinian people in Gaza, were forced to flee homes yet again. “They are left to survive on very small areas of the territory, with barely anything to survive on.”
The office said, its health partners have reported that since May 19, more than two dozen health centres and mobile clinics and one hospital suspended services, because of hostilities, attacks or displacement orders in their areas.
On water and sanitation services, OCHA said, 200,000 litres of fuel are needed per week across Gaza, to sustain critical facilities. However, the situation in southern Gaza is particularly concerning, as no fuel is available, and only one-third of the required supply was received last week. Northern Gaza managed to secure sufficient fuel to sustain water and sanitation operations for two weeks only.
The office also said, hundreds of learning spaces were affected by displacement orders, over the last week. However, three temporary learning spaces were able to re-open in Khan Younis. OCHA partners said, the spaces are essential for the mental and physical well-being of children in Gaza.
The office renewed its call for the opening of all crossing points from Israel to Gaza, for humanitarian aid and commercial goods.
“The United Nations and its humanitarian partners stand ready to deliver at scale,” OCHA said. “International law must be respected, and humanitarian operations must be enabled without further delay.”
The office explained yet again that, civilians must be protected, including those fleeing and forced to leave through displacement orders, and those who remain despite those orders. Civilians who flee their homes must be allowed to return as soon as circumstances permit.
OCHA said that, civilians must be able to receive the humanitarian assistance they need, wherever they are, as mandated by international humanitarian law.– NNN-XINHUA
