“For over 150 days, no UNRWA trucks have been authorized to deliver food, medication, or essential supplies to Gaza,” the agency stated on Friday. “This denial of access costs lives every day.”
According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, cited by the UN, at least 61,158 Palestinians have been killed and more than 151,000 injured since October, amid relentless Israeli bombing and ground operations.
UNRWA reported that nearly 350 of its employees are among the dead since Israel’s military operation in Gaza began after the Hamas-led terrorist attacks on October 7, 2023.
Many civilians died while sheltering in schools, tents, or waiting in food lines.
Food insecurity has become severe. The United Nations reports 193 deaths – including 96 children – due to malnutrition since the beginning of August, the highest monthly rate of acute malnutrition recorded among children under five.
Wheat flour prices have surged up to 15,000% compared to pre-war levels. “Robust and large-scale deliveries are vital to stabilize food supplies and prices,” UNRWA said.
Health services are near collapse. Over half of essential medical supplies are out of stock, and hospitals are forced to ration generator fuel. UNRWA teams have conducted over 1.5 million health consultations since March, but “without replenishment, our ability to save lives diminishes,” warned the agency.
The displacement is massive: 1.9 million people – about 90% of Gaza’s population – have been forced from their homes, many multiple times. Nearly 100,000 are crowded into over 60 UNRWA shelters.
In the northern Israeli-occupied West Bank, around 30,000 residents from NUR Shams refugee camps, Tulkarm, and Jenin remain unable to return home due to the ongoing Israeli “iron wall” military operation since January.
The agency has called for immediate and unhindered humanitarian access. “We need the world to act – to open crossings, stop suffering, and uphold the most fundamental principles of humanity,” it stated.
The UN Security Council will meet in an emergency session in New York on Sunday morning, local time, to discuss the Israeli cabinet’s approval of military control over Gaza City, home to about a million Palestinians.
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