Today's top news: Occupied Palestinian Territory
Occupied Palestinian Territory
OCHA warns that ongoing hostilities in Gaza, repeated evacuation orders, access impediments and other challenges continue to hamper efforts to reach people with life-saving assistance.
During his last press briefing as OCHA’s Head of Office for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Andrea De Domenico told journalists earlier today that over the past 10 months, he has seen the “absolute physical and psychological exhaustion of an entire population.”
Speaking remotely from East Jerusalem, De Domenico said he has witnessed the systematic dehumanization of civilians in Gaza and the West Bank. He also expressed concern over growing anger toward Israel and the threat of anti-Semitism.
“The danger for me, and actually for any one of our colleagues that have bravely decided to go to work in Gaza – UN, NGOs and national staff that have been always on the front line – and for the entire humanity, is that we are becoming immune to horror,” he said. “We cannot allow this to happen.”
Israeli authorities have decided not to renew De Domenico’s visa, which expires today.
The World Food Programme (WFP) and other agencies are still unable to get enough food into and around Gaza. There are not enough border crossings, it is difficult to get authorizations to move convoys within Gaza and there are often long delays in holding areas, as well as a lack of public order and safety that continues to hamper movements.
More than 20 WFP food distribution points have been lost due to recent evacuation orders and kitchens and bakeries have been forced to relocate. The escalation of hostilities has also rendered two warehouses unusable for the time and cut off parts of Salah El Din – the main road in Gaza – limiting WFP’s ability to deliver across the Strip.
In response to last week's evacuation order issued in Khan Younis, WFP is distributing one food parcel per family to support displaced people, reaching about 8,000 families so far. With increased needs and limited stocks, the agency is having to reduce rations to one parcel per family to ensure people get food to meet their most basic needs. But it is not enough.
Today, only 12 of 18 bakeries in Gaza are operating: four in Gaza city, two in northern Gaza, and six in Deir al Balah. Bakeries in middle areas only have enough fuel to operate for a few days.
Despite all these challenges, WFP was able to reach nearly 1.2 million people with food, wheat flour, or hot meals last month. However, rations were reduced and irregular,
Meanwhile, humanitarian partners working on the water, sanitation and hygiene response in Gaza are concerned over the destruction of the Canada reservoir in Rafah. That facility, with a holding capacity of some 3,000 cubic meters of water, was blown up last week. Until recently, the reservoir had served thousands of displaced people sheltering in Rafah.
Humanitarian partners warn that its destruction could hinder the return of residents to Rafah and further push families to resort to drinking unsafe water, risking dehydration, malnutrition and diseases.
Meanwhile, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), launched today the back to learning programme for children in Gaza. In its first phase, UNRWA will expand ongoing psychosocial support activities, focusing on arts, music and sports – as well as raising awareness on the risks of explosive ordnance. It will then transition to include informal learning activities, with reading, writing and math lessons.
UNRWA’s Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said the programme is the first step in a much longer road that focuses on activities that will give Gaza’s children a refuge from the horrors they continue to live through – and to reconnect with the childhood they have been robbed of.