“Despite the tragedy unfolding under our watch, Israeli authorities have informed the UN that they will no longer approve any UNRWA food convoys to the north,” said Philippe Lazzarini.
The commissioner general of the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, revealed this Sunday that Israel has informed the UN that it will not approve more humanitarian convoys aimed at the north of the Gaza Strip, where famine is already a reality.
“Despite the tragedy unfolding under our watch, Israeli authorities have informed the UN that they will no longer approve any UNRWA food convoys to the north,” Lazzarini said in a statement.
The commissioner recalled that UNRWA, which provides services to almost 6 million Palestinians in different countries and it is the main humanitarian actor in the Gaza Stripis in the midst of war “the main support” for more than 2 million internally displaced people in the enclave and the only one that can provide “vital assistance” in the north.
“This is outrageous and makes it intentional to obstruct life-saving assistance during a man-made famine. These restrictions must be lifted,” Lazzarini cried.
The news comes at a time when International pressure grows for Israel to allow more humanitarian aid access to the Gaza Stripwhere half of the population is at imminent risk of famine, according to a recent UN report.
Israel does not hide its intentions to expel UNRWA from the Strip and in January accused the institution of having a connection with the October 7 attacks, which caused 18 countries to announce that they were withdrawing their funds, including its main donors – the US. ., Germany, Japan or France -, until the investigation was completed, which has meant a budget cut of 450 million dollars in the midst of the emergency response in the Gaza Strip.
Countries like Canada, Sweden, Australia or one’s own European Union have announced in recent weeks their intention to resume funding to UNRWA before the inconsistency of evidence presented by Israel on links to Hamas.
Other countries, such as Spain, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait, maintained their allocations and even announced additional funds to alleviate the coup.
Guterres warns that “the four horsemen of the Apocalypse” are galloping through Gaza
The Secretary General of the UN, António Guterres, denounced this Sunday the “humanitarian catastrophe” suffered by the Gaza Strip to the point that “it seems that the four horsemen” of the Apocalypse are galloping throughout Gaza.
“Looking at Gaza it almost seems as if the four horsemen of war, hunger, conquest and death are galloping throughout it,” Guterres said during a press conference from El Arish, where he met with the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Egyptian Foreign Affairs, Samé Shukri.
For this reason, Guterres has defended the need for “an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.”
Source: Eitb
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