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24-05-2024
UNITED NATIONS/ RAFAH: Food distribution in the southern Gaza city of Rafah has been suspended due to a lack of supplies and insecurity, the UN says.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa, warned its distribution centre and a World Food Programme warehouse were now inaccessible because of the ongoing Israeli military operation against Hamas in eastern Rafah.
At least 815,000 of the more than a million people taking refuge in Rafah have fled since the Israeli operation began two weeks ago.
Unrwa also said its health centres had not received any medical supplies in the past 10 days.
The news came as the US said it did not believe any of the aid that had entered northern Gaza through a newly-completed floating pier had been distributed to Palestinians by humanitarian organizations.
On Saturday, crowds of Palestinians desperate for food intercepted a number of WFP Lorries transporting aid from the pier, which prompted the agency to suspend deliveries until new routes could be identified.
Israel launched a military campaign to destroy Hamas in response to the group’s cross-border attack on southern Israel on 7 October, during which about 1,200 people were killed and 252 others were taken hostage.
More than 35,640 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.
After seven months of war in Gaza, Israel has insisted victory is impossible without taking Rafah and eliminating the last remaining Hamas battalions there but the UN and Western powers have warned that an all-out assault could lead to mass civilian casualties and a humanitarian catastrophe.
On 6 May, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) ordered residents of eastern Rafah to evacuate for their own safety before it began what it called “precise operations” against Hamas operatives and infrastructure.
Since then, troops have advanced into central neighborhoods and taken control of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt. The crossing remains closed, while the UN says the nearby Kerem Shalom crossing with Israel is too dangerous to access.
On Monday, Israel’s Defence Minister, Yoav Gallant, declared that it was “committed to broadening the ground operation in Rafah”.
Unrwa said in a report on Tuesday that it had been forced to suspend food distribution because the Israeli operation had left its distribution centre and a WFP warehouse inaccessible.
When asked about the ramifications, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters in New York: “People don’t eat.”
It is not clear how many people are still living in the Rafah area but the head of Unwa implied it was more than 800,000 on Sunday, when he said that “nearly half of the population are on the road”.
The IDF has told them to head to an “expanded humanitarian area” that stretches from nearby al-Mawasi to the central town of Deir al-Balah and said they will find field hospitals, tents, food and other supplies.
However, the UN has said nowhere is safe in Gaza and that the designated area is already crammed with people and does not have clean drinking water supplies and sanitation facilities.
The IDF said on Tuesday that its soldiers were continuing “targeted raids on… terrorist infrastructure and buildings” in eastern Rafah, and that it had “eliminated dozens of terrorists” who tried to approach them. (Int’l News Desk)
