DaysofPal – United Nations spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said on Tuesday that the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza continues to face serious obstacles at border crossings, despite the declared ceasefire.
Dujarric told reporters that the UN had encountered major difficulties in moving humanitarian supplies through the crossings after Israel decided to cut aid deliveries to the enclave.
He noted that the UN is intensifying contact with Israeli authorities in an effort to establish a system that would allow more aid to enter through additional crossings, expressing hope for a mechanism to ensure a steady flow of humanitarian assistance into Gaza.
According to UN sources, Israel has formally notified the organization that it will halve the daily number of aid trucks permitted to enter the Strip.
Although the ceasefire came into effect on October 10, humanitarian suffering in Gaza continues to worsen dramatically amid the ongoing blockade and Israel’s persistent restrictions on aid.
The developments come in the context of what Palestinians and rights groups describe as a two-year genocidal campaign launched by Israel with U.S. backing since October 8, 2023, a war that has killed more than 67,938 Palestinians and wounded over 170,169, most of them women and children. The famine caused by the siege has also claimed the lives of 463 Palestinians, including 157 children.
Observers say that Israel’s continued obstruction of humanitarian aid, even under a ceasefire, shows it is still using starvation as a weapon of war, a practice explicitly defined as a war crime under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, which prohibits depriving civilians of essential means of survival.
Tying humanitarian access to political or military conditions, they warn, also constitutes a violation of humanitarian neutrality under international law and demonstrates an intentional policy of collective punishment through blockade, starvation, and the systematic denial of food, medicine, and water.
The dire circumstances in Gaza highlight the urgent need for a strong international response to uphold international humanitarian law, reopen border crossings in a secure and long-term manner, and hold atrocity perpetrators accountable for crimes against humanity and genocide.
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