UNITED NATIONS: The UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, reiterated deep concerns for the people of war-torn Gaza yesterday, amid reports of intense fighting between Israeli forces and Palestinian fighters in Gaza City and Jabalia in the north of the Strip, and in Khan Yunis in the south, while Israeli bombardment of the enclave has continued.

Speaking in Doha at the launch of the Global Humanitarian Overview, Griffiths said that the situation was ‘getting worse’, while efforts to secure ‘moments of peace’ remained of the ‘greatest importance’. According to the latest update on the emergency from UN Relief Coordination Office (OCHA), tens of thousands of people ‘in desperate need of food, water, shelter, health and protection’ who recently fled to Rafah in the south, had waited for hours around aid distribution centres.

OCHA’s latest update on the violence ¬ which began on 7 October also indicated that the lack of adequate sanitation had led to ‘widespread’ open-air defecation, increasing fears of disease spread.

According to the Gazan health authorities, about 18,000 people have now been killed in Gaza since the fighting began; about 70 per cent are said to be women and children; and more than 49,000 people are reportedly injured. Griffiths thanked Qatar for its ‘creative diplomacy’ as part of efforts to ‘bring moments of peace’ to the embattled enclave.

He stressed that ‘the intensification of the military operation that we have been hearing about in the south of Gaza and the threats to neighbouring countries’ make those efforts ‘all the more important’.

OCHA reiterated that the UN’s ability to receive incoming aid had been ‘significantly impaired over the past few days’, due to a shortage of trucks within Gaza, telecommunications blackouts and aid workers being prevented by the fighting from getting to the Rafah crossing through which a trickle of relief items is entering from Egypt.

Over the weekend 150,000 litres of fuel per day on average entered from Egypt, OCHA said. This is higher than the previous daily average of 67,000 litres but still represented ‘the bare minimum needed to prevent the collapse of critical services’ including hospitals and ambulances, water and sanitation as well as shelters for the displaced.

Sunday also saw the arrival of some 45 tonnes of cooking gas from Egypt, ‘the first such delivery since the resumption of hostilities’ after a seven-day ceasefire ended on 1 December, OCHA said. Meanwhile, European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Monday he would propose sanctions against Jewish settlers responsible for violence against Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Borrell was speaking after EU foreign ministers debated possible next steps in their response to the Middle East crisis.

While much international attention has focused on the cross-border assault and Israel's subsequent war against Hamas in Gaza, European officials have also expressed increasing concern about rising violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.

Published in The Daily National Courier, December, 12 2023

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