The United Nations has suspended its humanitarian activities in Gaza following recent evacuation orders issued by Israel for the Deir Al-Balah region, where the UN’s operations center was situated.
This development occurs against the backdrop of intensifying Israeli assaults on the beleaguered Palestinian territory, which has endured extensive devastation and significant civilian displacement since the onset of Israeli hostilities on October 7, 2023.
A senior United Nations official, speaking on condition of anonymity to Reuters, confirmed that as of Monday, all UN operations in Gaza have been suspended.
‘Given the current conditions, we are unable to deliver aid today,” the official remarked.
The UN had previously relocated its primary operations center to Deir Al-Balah after Israel’s evacuation order for Rafah in southern Gaza several months prior.
With the issuance of new evacuation directives, the UN now confronts the uncertainty of finding a new location.
“Where do we move now?” the official questioned, underscoring the profound challenges of functioning under a persistent state of peril.
The suspension of UN operations has elicited grave concerns regarding the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, particularly as the UN was on the verge of initiating a polio vaccination campaign aimed at approximately 640,000 children in the region.
The World Health Organization recently documented the first polio case in Gaza in 25 years, involving a 10-month-old infant.
The vaccination effort, which was set to engage over 3,000 participants, including more than 1,000 personnel from the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA)—the largest remaining healthcare provider in Gaza—now faces severe disruption.
Sam Rose, a senior field director for UNRWA, noted that despite the suspension of broader UN operations, UNRWA is still managing to deliver some health and other services.
However, Rose expressed concerns about the shrinking space for humanitarian efforts: “We are being squeezed into ever smaller areas of Gaza. The humanitarian zone declared by Israel has shrunk. It’s now about 11% of the entire Gaza Strip.”
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