UN: Gaza suffers as Israel aid blockade reaches 50 days
Israel has stopped all aid from going into the Gaza Strip for 50 days, affecting civilians on a very serious level, according to UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric, Middle East Eye via Wafa news agency reported on April 22nd.
In December 2023, Israel designated an area in southern Gaza as a “humanitarian zone” where civilians can seek safety, The Guardian reported on April 22nd.
The IDF has since continued its airstrikes and captured large areas as a “security buffer zone.” The UN estimates that 70% of Gaza is now either under an evacuation notice or labelled a no-go area.
Dujarric, who spoke at a news conference on the evening of April 21st, said that food levels had decreased to a worrying extent, while medicine, medical provisions, and vaccines were depleting.
Dujarric said that children and adults were experiencing hunger and that Gaza’s health system was on the brink of falling apart. He said that “hundreds of thousands of people have” experienced displacement.
“Ambulances have had to scale back life-saving services because there’s almost no fuel to power these ambulances,” Dujarric added, Anadolu Agency reported on April 21st.
French President Emmanuel Macron visited Egypt on April 8th to push Israel to lift its blockade on humanitarian aid entering Gaza, France 24 reported.
Saudi Arabia echoed Macron’s sentiments, calling for international pressure on Israel to ensure continuous aid to Gaza, Middle East Eye reported on April 11th.
Jens Laerke, a spokesperson for the UN humanitarian agency Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), made a statement on April 22nd. Laerke said: “[R]ight now is probably the worst humanitarian situation we have seen throughout the war in Gaza.”
Anadolu Agency, Middle East Eye, Wafa news agency, The Guardian, France 24
