From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, December 5, 2023
UN claims aid deliveries to southern Gaza hampered by fighting
The United Nations says limited humanitarian aid is being delivered to the Rafah region in southern Gaza because of intense hostilities. It also says that all telecom services have shut down due to cuts in the main fiber routes.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric says only 100 aid trucks with humanitarian supplies and 69,000 liters of fuel entered Gaza from Egypt on Monday, about the same amount as Sunday.
That is well below the daily average of 170 trucks and 110,000 liters of fuel that entered Gaza during the humanitarian pause from November 24-30, he says.
Dujarric quotes Lynn Hastings, the UN humanitarian coordinator in the Palestinian territories, saying “shelters have no capacity, the health system is on its knees, and there is a lack of clean drinking water, no proper sanitation and poor nutrition.”
On X, COGAT, the Israeli body that coordinated the aid deliveries, also quotes Hastings’ claim that the conditions for the delivery of aid do not exist, publishing a picture showing a line of dozens of trucks outside the Strip.
“The conditions required to deliver aid to the people of Gaza exist. We’ve completed all the necessary logistics to make it happen. Now, the #UN has to keep up,” it says.
This is the truck convoy carrying humanitarian aid waiting to enter the #Gaza Strip.
The conditions required to deliver aid to the people of Gaza exist. We've completed all the necessary logistics to make it happen. Now, the #UN has to keep up. https://t.co/cMFqqRRq0i pic.twitter.com/UzERqC4hXz
— COGAT (@cogatonline) December 5, 2023
Dujarric says that there are no safe places in Gaza and that “those places that fly the UN flag are not safe either.”
The main telecommunication provider in Gaza announced the shutdown of all telecom services Monday night, Dujarric says.
