UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- With hundreds of thousands of civilians fleeing the Gaza City military offensive, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians remain amid eroding relief operations, UN humanitarians said on Thursday.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said intensified strikes against residential buildings and infrastructure continue to cause heavy casualties and lead to displacements.
"This is threatening the continued operation of life-saving services, including ambulances, health facilities, nutrition treatment support and community kitchens," said OCHA. "Civilians in Gaza City and the north (of the Gaza Strip) require sustained humanitarian support at scale, which in turn requires continued access and reliable safety guarantees for aid workers."
However, the office reported that all attempts by the United Nations on Thursday to coordinate its staff and partners' access to or within the north were denied by Israeli authorities, except for a single mission that eventually had to be canceled by the organizers.
"This prevented the implementation of planned missions as critical as water trucking," OCHA said. "Over the past week, even missions that were approved by Israeli authorities often took hours to complete, with teams compelled to wait on dangerous or congested roads."
The office said that following the closure of the Zikim border crossing on Sept. 12, the denial rate of humanitarian movements to northern Gaza had risen to 40 percent by Monday, compared with 18 percent over the previous 11 days.
In the southern Gaza Strip, OCHA said humanitarian teams collected supplies from the Kerem Shalom/Karem Abu Salem crossing. They were able to bring food, health supplies and fuel closer to where they are desperately needed in the south as teams carried out field assessments for further humanitarian planning.
The office said the world body continues to receive reports of people being killed or injured while seeking food or aid.
The UN Human Rights Office said that between Sept. 17 and Monday, 21 Palestinians were reportedly killed, including deaths near three militarized supply sites and along the Morag route south of Khan Younis.
The office added that since May 27, at least 2,340 people have been killed while seeking food or aid, more than half of whom were killed near militarized supply sites and the rest along convoy routes. ■
