UNITED NATIONS: United Nations aid operations in Gaza ground to a halt on Monday after Israel issued new evacuation orders on Sunday for Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip where the U.N. operations center was located, said a senior U.N. official.
The evacuation order came as the U.N. prepares to begin on Saturday a campaign to vaccinate an estimated 640,000 children in Gaza, where the World Health Organization (WHO) said a
10-month-old baby had been paralysed by the type 2 polio virus, the first such case in the territory in 25 years.
“We’re unable to deliver today with the conditions that we’re in,” said the senior U.N. official, speaking on condition of anonymity. “As of this morning, we’re not operating in Gaza.”
The United Nations had relocated its main operations center for the Gaza Strip and most U.N. personnel to Deir Al-Balah, the official said, after Israel ordered the evacuation of Rafah in the south of Gaza several months ago.
“Where do we move now?” said the official, adding that U.N. staff had to be moved so quickly that equipment was left behind.
The Israeli military’s humanitarian unit (COGAT) did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The senior U.N. official said U.N. staff on the ground had been directed to try and find a way to keep operating. He said U.N. operations had not been formally suspended.
“We’re not leaving (Gaza) because the people need us there,” the official said. “We’re trying to balance the need of the population with the need for safety and security of the U.N. personnel.”
Sam Rose, a senior field director for the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), said UNRWA was still managing to deliver health and other services on Monday, but noted that while UNRWA operated differently to the rest of the U.N. system it still faced the same challenges.
Due to ongoing military operations in Deir Al-Balah, only 3 out of 18 water wells there are still functioning, resulting in an 85% water shortfall.
Not only are people in #Gaza in constant fear for their lives, but they struggle to meet even their most basic needs. #CeasefireNow pic.twitter.com/d8N3ZB2tvu
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) August 26, 2024
“We are being squeezed into ever smaller areas of Gaza,” he told reporters on Monday. “The humanitarian zone declared by Israel has shrunk. It’s now about 11% of the entire Gaza Strip. But this isn’t 11% of land that is fit for habitation, fit for services, fit for life.”
FOOD AID HALVED
“The humanitarian response here is being completely strangled and limiting our ability of what we can do,” said Louise Wateridge, spokesperson for UNRWA in Gaza, on Monday.
The U.N. has long complained of obstacles to getting aid into Gaza – Israel inspects and approves all trucks – and says it is also struggling to distribute aid amid “total lawlessness” within the enclave of 2.3 million people, where a global hunger monitor last month said there is a high risk of famine.
Rose said that more than 3,000 people would work on the polio vaccination campaign that was due to start on Saturday. “Over 1000 of them drawn from from UNRWA, which is essentially the largest primary health care provider left in the Gaza Strip. The vaccines have come in. We’re calling for calm. We’re calling for humanitarian pauses,” he said.
(REUTERS)
