DaysofPal — The foreign ministers of ten countries, including the United Kingdom, France, and Canada, issued a warning on Tuesday over the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, calling on the Israeli occupation to lift restrictions on the entry of humanitarian aid, particularly as winter conditions intensify.
In a joint statement released by the UK Foreign Office, the ministers of Britain, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Japan, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland said civilians in Gaza are enduring appalling conditions amid heavy rainfall and dropping temperatures.
According to the statement, an estimated 1.3 million people urgently require shelter assistance, while more than half of Gaza’s health facilities are operating only partially and face acute shortages of essential medical equipment and supplies.
The ministers also warned that the collapse of the sewage system has put around 740,000 people at risk of exposure to hazardous flooding.
While acknowledging steps toward ending the violence in Gaza, the ministers stressed that any political or security progress must not divert attention from the continued suffering of civilians.
They urged the Israeli government to take urgent and necessary measures to ease the humanitarian crisis.
The statement highlighted the need to ensure that international non-governmental organizations can operate in Gaza stably and predictably.
The ministers cautioned that many long-standing NGO partners could face the revocation of their operating licenses as December 31 approaches, due to new restrictions imposed by the Israeli occupation.
They also called for allowing the United Nations and its partners to continue their humanitarian work and for lifting the unreasonable restrictions on imports designated by the Israeli occupation as dual-use items, including medical supplies and shelter-related equipment.
In addition, the ministers urged the opening of border crossings to increase the flow of aid into Gaza.
While welcoming the partial reopening of the Allenby Bridge (Karameh Crossing) with Jordan, they noted that other critical routes for goods remain closed or heavily restricted, including the Rafah crossing, a key entry point for humanitarian assistance.
The statement criticized complex customs procedures and intensive inspection processes for causing major delays in aid delivery, noting that commercial shipments are reportedly permitted to enter with fewer obstacles.
The ministers concluded by emphasizing that the current target of 4,200 aid trucks per week, including 250 UN trucks per day, should be treated as a minimum requirement rather than a ceiling, and called for increasing these numbers to ensure the delivery of urgently needed supplies.
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