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UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric warned Wednesday that ongoing Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip are having a devastating toll on civilians, Anadolu reports.
“Our colleagues at the Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warned that Israeli operations, including shelling and bombing across the Strip, continue to have a devastating impact on civilians, reportedly killing and injuring scores of people, many of whom were just seeking aid,” Dujarric told reporters.
He said Israeli authorities continue to restrict the delivery of fuel into and throughout the enclave, “effectively choking off” life-saving services for deprived and starving people.
The UN and its partners on Tuesday attempted to coordinate 15 humanitarian movements inside Gaza, but only four were fully facilitated by the Israeli authorities, he said.
READ: Gaza death toll reaches 84,000 far higher than official counts, new study finds
“Seven other attempts were denied outright, preventing teams from trucking water, retrieving broken trucks or repairing roads. Another four missions were initially approved but then impeded on the ground – although one was ultimately accomplished today. Another mission had to be cancelled by the organizers,” the spokesman added.
The UN has been “extremely vocal, extremely transparent, extremely animated” about the suffering of the people of Gaza, Dujarric stressed.
Rejecting international calls for a ceasefire, the Israeli army has pursued a brutal offensive against Gaza since October 2023, killing over 56,100 Palestinians, most of them women and children.
Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
READ: France condemns Israeli strikes on civilians at Gaza aid distribution center
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
