Today's Edition
GAZA (ALETIHAD)
The United Nations has confirmed that only a lasting peace can end suffering and prevent a humanitarian disaster in Gaza. The UN voiced concerns over the resumption of military operations in the Gaza Strip, which exacerbates the humanitarian crisis affecting two million people.
The World Food Programme (WFP), a UN agency, announced on Wednesday that the renewed Israeli military operations in Gaza are worsening the disaster for the area’s two million residents.
The WFP called for compliance with international humanitarian law, stating in a press release that the renewed hostilities will only intensify the already critical hunger crisis threatening the civilian population.
A seven-day ceasefire had allowed the WFP and its partners to safely expand their relief operations, the statement added. During the ceasefire, the WFP was able to double the number of distribution points outside the shelters and deliver food to previously inaccessible areas, including northern regions.
This effort reached approximately 250,000 people in just one week, the WFP highlighted.
However, the organisation lamented that this progress is now at risk due to the resumed fighting, which hampers aid distribution and endangers humanitarian workers’ lives.
The WFP emphasised the necessity for humanitarian workers to have safe, unimpeded, and sustainable access to distribute life-saving aid throughout the sector. It also underlined the importance of all parties fulfilling their international humanitarian law obligations, reiterating that only lasting peace can alleviate suffering and prevent the worsening of the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.
The WFP called for a ceasefire on humanitarian grounds and urged leaders to quickly find political solutions to end the conflict’s devastating effects. Similarly, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) reported a new wave of displacement in Gaza, with the situation deteriorating by the minute.
UNRWA’s press release stated that there is no safe area in Gaza, now one of the most dangerous places in the world. Shelters, including UNRWA shelters, are overcrowded with displaced people. UNRWA has recorded the displacement of about 1.9 million people across Gaza since October 7.
