UN welcomes Israel’s daily ‘tactical pause’ for aid deliveries in Gaza

The United Nations is welcoming Israel’s announcement of a “tactical pause” in fighting on some roads in Gaza, and is hopeful this will lead to Israeli authorities lifting all alleged obstacles to aid deliveries for all of the territory.

“As we have reiterated, humanitarian operations in Gaza must be fully facilitated, and all impediments must be lifted,” UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq tells The Associated Press. “We need to be able to deliver aid safely throughout Gaza.”

The Israeli military yesterday announced a “tactical pause” in daytime fighting along roads leading from Kerem Shalom, a main goods crossing, to a north-south highway in Gaza. Shimon Freedman, a spokesman for COGAT, an Israeli defense body that oversees aid distribution in Gaza, said today that the UN has yet to “take full advantage of the new route.”

Israeli authorities have continually said the lack of aid reaching desperate Palestinians in Gaza is due to the failure of the UN to distribute supplies within the war-stricken territory.

In welcoming the announcement, Haq says: “The UN and its humanitarian partners are ready to engage with all parties to ensure critical, lifesaving assistance reaches those in need across Gaza, where catastrophic hunger is widespread.”

“We hope this leads to further concrete measures by Israel to address longstanding issues preventing a meaningful humanitarian response in Gaza,” he says.

With the war between Israel and Hamas in its ninth month, Haq says, displaced Palestinians in Gaza urgently need food, water, sanitation, shelter and healthcare, “with many living near piles of solid waste, heightening health risks.”

He asserts Israel needs to ensure that the movement of aid convoys and staff members through checkpoints is expedited, that all roads are operational, and that fuel — which is in critically short supply — enters Gaza regularly.

“It means providing the necessary communications equipment and logistical materials, which have long been denied by Israeli authorities,” Haq says.

“And most importantly, the rule of law must be addressed immediately,” he says. “Desperation and scarcity of aid have led to a near-total breakdown in law and order.”