UN official: A catastrophic situation in Gaza, and the quality of aid is no less important than its quantity news

Senior Emergency Coordinator at the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Hamish Young, said that the quality of aid needed by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip is no less important than its quantity.

Young said that the Palestinians in Gaza need tents, tarpaulins (plastic sheets), and clean drinking water, stressing – in an interview with Anadolu – the necessity of allowing all basic materials to enter without restrictions to meet the growing humanitarian needs.

He also stressed the urgent need to provide fuel and equipment necessary for water production and distribution, in addition to pipelines for repairing wells and desalination plants.

He added, “We have 50 trucks waiting for permission to move and bring medical supplies and hygiene materials necessary to save children’s lives.”

The UN official was speaking while waiting for aid trucks with his team on the road leading to the Kissufim crossing, east of the city of Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.

Amount of aid

Israel has allowed 653 aid trucks to enter Gaza since the ceasefire took effect on October 10, according to what was reported by the director of the government media office in Gaza, Ismail Al-Thawabta.

This number is much less than the number supposed to enter under the agreement, which amounts to 600 trucks per day.

While last Sunday, Israel allowed the entry of 173 aid trucks, including 3 cooking gas trucks and 6 fuel trucks, on Monday and Tuesday it did not allow any aid to enter, while on Wednesday it again allowed the entry of 480 trucks.

Until Friday evening, the Gaza Information Office did not issue statistics on the number of aid trucks that entered the Strip during Thursday and Friday.

Commenting on this, Young said that there should be 600 truckloads of supplies daily, which includes a full range of materials coming from the private sector and commercial suppliers, in addition to vital humanitarian aid provided by UNICEF, the World Food Programme, the United Nations Population Fund and the World Health Organization, according to Young.

He stated that the Strip also needs about 50 fuel trucks per day, and cooking gas, which he stressed is very necessary for the population in Gaza.

He stressed that safe access within the Strip is a prerequisite for distributing aid, and said: “We need freedom of movement throughout Gaza, so that we can deliver supplies to the most vulnerable children, and to their mothers and families who care for them.”

Disastrous situation

The UN official described the situation in the Gaza Strip as catastrophic, noting that all hospitals were either destroyed or severely damaged, while the population suffers from an acute shortage of food and shelter.

He stressed that UNICEF needs a large amount of food supplies in order to address the effects of the famine in the northern Gaza Strip, and that there is an urgent need to make maximum efforts to bring in all the supplies he spoke about.

The Palestinians in Gaza have been experiencing a severe humanitarian crisis accompanied by widespread famine, since the start of the Israeli war of extermination on October 8, 2023, as the continuous bombing and tight siege led to the destruction of the civilian infrastructure and the collapse of the health system.

Israel has completely closed the Gaza Strip crossings since the second of last March, preventing the entry of food, medicine, and all life necessities, while thousands of trucks are accumulating on the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing (land between the Gaza Strip and Egypt) waiting to be allowed to enter, but Israel still refuses to open the Rafah crossing and links this to the return of the bodies of the remaining Israeli prisoners.

On October 9, Hamas and Israel reached a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement, based on a plan proposed by US President Donald Trump.

This came after indirect negotiations between the two parties in Sharm El-Sheikh for 4 days, mediated by Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey, and under American sponsorship.

The next day, the agreement entered into force, under which Hamas handed over 20 living Israeli prisoners and the remains of 11 others, while the bodies of 17 others remained.

In return, Israel released 250 Palestinian prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment, and 1,718 whom it arrested from Gaza after October 8, 2023, and handed over the bodies of 120 Palestinians.