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UNRWA: Palestinians in North Gaza Are “Just Waiting to Die”

WFP says Israel is allowing, at maximum, 20 aid trucks a day into the region housing an estimated 440,000 people.

Displaced Palestinians queue to receive food rations, offered by a charity, in Gaza's refuge at Nuseirat refugee camp on October 18, 2024.

Israeli forces are only allowing a handful of aid trucks to enter north Gaza each day after weeks of a total aid blockade, the UN reports. With crucial supplies depleted, the estimated 440,000 Palestinians still trapped in the region are simply “waiting to die,” one UN official said.

According to World Food Programme (WFP) country director for Palestine Antoine Renard, Israel is allowing a maximum of only 20 aid trucks daily into north Gaza, down from an average of between 60 and 90 trucks previously — which was already not nearly enough to stave off catastrophic food shortages in the region.

Further, in the first two weeks of October, Israel was blocking the entry of all aid, Renard noted in an interview with NPR. During that time, WFP had been forced to shut down all of its food distribution points, kitchens, and bakeries in north Gaza. The last functioning bakery there, the group reported last week, had been bombed by Israel and caught fire.

Workers transporting the little aid that Israel allows to enter are forced to jump through a number of roadblocks, Renard said, with Israel strictly enforcing checkpoints and interrogating truck drivers.

The aid blockade, in combination with Israel’s forced evacuation and extermination campaign, is creating a dire situation in north Gaza from which the only escape is death, officials report, through starvation, Israeli attacks, or otherwise.

In an urgent appeal posted to social media on Tuesday, UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) head Philippe Lazzarini said that Israel’s escalated siege on the region is horrific, and condemned Israel for denying humanitarian missions to clear bodies from the roads or under the rubble.

“Our staff report they cannot find food, water or medical care. The smell of death is everywhere as bodies are left lying on the roads or under the rubble,” said Lazzarini. “In northern Gaza, people are just waiting to die. They feel deserted, hopeless and alone. They live from one hour to the next, fearing death at every second.”

Even a concentrated, temporary ceasefire to allow Palestinians to safely evacuate could save countless lives, Lazzarini. Though Israel has issued displacement orders for nearly the entirety of north Gaza, Israeli forces are also targeting those trying to flee.

“On behalf of our staff in northern Gaza, I am calling for an immediate truce, even if for a few hours, to enable safe humanitarian passage for families who wish to leave the area and reach safer places,” the UNRWA head said. “This is the bare minimum to save the lives of civilians who have nothing to do with this conflict.”

The UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in the occupied Palestinian territory also issued an appeal for Israeli authorities to allow humanitarian missions to rescue those trapped under the rubble in north Gaza.

According to the group, there are at least three families, totalling over 40 Palestinians, who have been buried alive under rubble in Jabalia refugee camp for five days after Israel bombed the buildings they were sheltering in. Israeli forces have repeatedly denied access to OCHA to rescue those trapped, even as the group warns that they will die if Israel does not grant passage.