While a trickle of aid trucks have delivered much-needed assistance to Gaza, aid groups say that truly addressing the strip’s humanitarian crisis will not be possible as long as hostilities continue.
GAZA CITY/NEW YORK — Israel on Saturday intensified its military campaign, with reports of several strikes on Gaza City, refugee camps in central Gaza, and on the southern city of Khan Younis. The Israeli forces also issued evacuation orders for several refugee camps into the already over-crowded shelters.
The Israeli barbarity continued as a heavily-negotiated resolution for desperately needed aid to Gaza was approved on Friday by the UN Security Council, calling for a pause in fighting to allow more aid deliveries, but it stopped short of demanding a ceasefire.
The US abstained from the vote, amid criticism that they had watered down the resolution.
The resolution is legally binding though it remains to be seen how aspects of it, including the pause in fighting and protection of humanitarian aid routes, will be implemented in the coming days.
Intense negotiations took place over the last week, with other member states searching for language that would avoid US objections that have doomed previous resolutions on Gaza in the 15-member body, where the US is one of five countries that hold a veto.
The original draft called for “an urgent and sustainable cessation of hostilities” and gave the UN increased control over aid deliveries into Gaza. The adopted resolution opts for less equivocal language on a ceasefire and maintains Israel’s control over all aid.
More than 20,000 people — nearly 1% of the territory’s prewar population — have been killed in Gaza, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. The vast majority of the enclave’s 2.2 million people are displaced, and the UN said Friday that more than half a million face starvation.
At least 20,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks since October 7, according to Gaza’s Government Media Office. The death toll from Hamas’s attack on Israel stands at nearly 1,140.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization chief has reiterated his warning that “famine is looming in Gaza” as the conflict blocks access to food and other critical supplies.
While a trickle of aid trucks have delivered much-needed assistance to Gaza, aid groups say that truly addressing the strip’s humanitarian crisis will not be possible as long as hostilities continue.
“The real problem is that the way Israel is conducting this offensive is creating massive obstacles to the distribution of humanitarian aid inside Gaza. An effective aid operation in Gaza requires security, staff who can work in safety, logistical capacity, and the resumption of commercial activity. These four elements do not exist,” UN chief Antonio Guterres told reporters following the vote. — Al Jazeera/Agencies
