82% of Aid Movements in Gaza Denied by Israel Amid Suffocating Blockade, Says OHCA
Gaza (Quds News Network)- The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has said that 82 percent of humanitarian aid movements in Gaza were denied by the Israeli occupation between March 18 and March 24.
OCHA said on Wednesday that 40 out of 49 attempts by humanitarian organizations to coordinate their movements with Israeli occupation between 18 and 24 March faced access denied, adding “tasks as critical as picking up essential supplies or refueling bakeries are effectively blocked.”
Five out of seven such attempts were denied on Monday and six out of nine were rejected on Tuesday, OCHA explained.
It has now been three and a half weeks since Israel imposed a total blockade on all aid to Gaza, including food, fuel, and medicine, pushing the entire population to the brink of famine amid widespread condemnations and accusations of using starvation as a weapon of war.
The Israeli decision to ban the entry of humanitarian aid and any other supplies via all land crossings into Gaza is the longest such closure since October 2023, OCHA added, warning that gains made during the ceasefire to support survivors “have been reversed”.
Medical teams in Gaza are also exhausted “and urgently need protection and reinforcement” from ongoing Isareli strikes across the Strip, OCHA said on Wednesday.
It cited new reports of attacks against health workers, ambulances and hospitals and warned of “hundreds of casualties, a severe drop in medical stocks and a lack of equipment, blood units and personnel” since the ceasefire ended.
“No one is safe. The world must have zero tolerance for atrocities,” the UN agency insisted.
Nearly 800 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza in recent days following the resumption of Israeli bombardment on 18 March, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
In just the last week, eight aid workers have been killed in Israeli attacks in the enclave, bringing the total killed in Gaza to 399. That number includes at least 289 UN personnel, OCHA said, with staffers from the UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS) and the UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) killed last Wednesday in an apparent Israeli tank strike on a UN compound in Deir al-Balah that also seriously wounded six others.
