UN aid agency accuses Israel of denying humanitarian access to northern Gazapublished at 16:41 British Summer Time
The Israeli authorities are “continuing to deny” humanitarian access to northern Gaza, the head of the UN’s largest aid agency in Gaza has claimed.
Last week it was revealed the US had written to Israel giving it 30 days to boost humanitarian access into Gaza or risk losing some military assistance.
The Israeli military body responsible for managing crossings into Gaza, Cogat, says it has expanded humanitarian access and that, over the last 24 hours, 47 humanitarian aid trucks were transferred into the north.
It also says there are 600 trucks worth of aid waiting to be picked up and distributed to people in Gaza, saying it has taken “many measures” to assist the UN with collection and accusing the organisation of being “still not up to par”.
UNRWA’s commissioner-general pictured in a press conference last month
The commissioner-general of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, has said his organisation’s remaining shelters in the territory are so overcrowded that “some displaced people are now forced to live in the toilets”.
“According to reports, people attempting to flee are getting killed, their bodies left on the street. Missions to rescue people from under the rubble are also being denied. Humanitarian agencies including UNRWA must get access to north Gaza,” he says in a post on social media, external.
Israel has repeatedly said that it operates “only against terror targets” and regularly accuses Hamas of hiding behind civilian infrastructure.