Israel denies, impedes nearly 90% of coordinated aid efforts in Gaza in September: UN

By Merve Aydogan

HAMILTON, Canada (AA) - The UN on Friday highlighted the challenges to humanitarian efforts in northern and southern Gaza, with 90% of coordinated efforts either denied or impeded so far in September by Israel.

"Humanitarian aid movements in Gaza continue to face significant access constraints," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said at a news conference.

"Nearly 90% of coordinated humanitarian movements between northern and southern Gaza so far in September have been either denied or impeded," said Dujarric.

The spokesman also stated that the "number of internal movement obstacles deployed by Israeli forces, increased by more than 20% since June 2023."

Pointing to the "escalation in movement restrictions imposed by Israeli authorities" in the occupied West Bank since Oct. 7, Dujarric said the restrictions were "marked by the deployment or maintenance of hundreds of movement obstacles and a general closure that affects Palestinian permit-holders and bars them from accessing East Jerusalem and Israel."

He said that Israeli obstacles have caused devastation, "further entrenching the fragmentation" of the occupied West Bank, and disrupted thousands of Palestinians' access to livelihoods and services.

In Gaza, Dujarric issued a warning as people continue to "live in abysmal conditions which could further deteriorate in the upcoming cold and rainy winter weather."

"We and humanitarian partners recently conducted assessments – on 19 and 22 September – in two collective shelters in Deir al Balah and Khan Younis," he said, adding that forcibly displaced people live "in overcrowded shelters and lack cleaning supplies, hygiene kits, sanitary pads and diapers, as well as clothes and infant formula for babies."

Flouting a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire, Israel has continued a brutal offensive on Gaza following a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas last October.

More than 41,500 people, most of them women and children, have since been killed and more than 96,000 injured, according to local health authorities.

The Israeli onslaught has displaced almost the entire population of the territory amid an ongoing blockade that has led to severe shortages of food, clean water, and medicine.

Israel also faces accusations of genocide at the ICJ for its actions in Gaza.