Agency :
The UN human rights office said Friday that 1,373 Palestinians have been killed while waiting for aid in the shortage-stricken Gaza Strip since late May, most of them by the Israeli military.
“In total, since 27 May, at least 1,373 Palestinians have been killed while seeking food; 859 in the vicinity of (US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation) sites and 514 along the routes of food convoys,” the UN agency’s office for the Palestinian territories said in a statement.
“Most of these killings were committed by the Israeli military,” it added.
Gaza aid delivery is ‘far from sufficient’: UN Israeli strikes kill 34 Palestinians, including 15 aid seekers The United Nations’ humanitarian agency has said that the conditions for delivering aid into Gaza were “far from sufficient” to meet the immense needs of its “desperate, hungry people”.
OCHA also said fuel deliveries were nowhere near what is needed to keep health, emergency, water and telecommunications services running in the besieged Palestinian territory.
This week, Israel launched daily pauses in its military operations in some parts of the Gaza Strip and opened secure routes to enable UN agencies and other aid groups to distribute food in the densely populated territory of more than two million, reports AFP.
“While the UN and its partners are taking advantage of any opportunity to support people in need during the unilateral tactical pauses, the conditions for the delivery of aid and supplies are far from sufficient,” the agency said.
UN drivers to access the Kerem Shalom crossing — a fenced-off area — Israeli authorities must approve the mission, provide a safe route through which to travel, provide multiple ‘green lights’ on movement, as well as a pause in bombing, and, ultimately, open the iron gates to allow them to enter.” In the ground, Israel’s relentless bombardment of the besieged enclave continues, with at least 34 Palestinians killed since dawn yesterday, including 15 aid seekers.
Gaza hospitals also recorded seven new deaths from “famine and malnutrition”, raising the total hunger-related death toll to 154, including 89 children, since October 2023.
Meanwhile, US special envoy Steve Witkoff met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday in a bid to salvage Gaza truce talks and tackle the humanitarian crisis in the enclave.
Indirect ceasefire talks between Israel and Palestinian group Hamas in Doha ended in deadlock last week with the sides blaming trade for the impasse and gaps remaining over issues including the extent of Israeli forces’ withdrawal.
US President Donald Trump has doubled down on his backing for Israel after having appeared to give a green light to the British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, to recognise a Palestinian state.He also said Canada’s move to recognise the Palestinian state threatens a US-Canada trade deal.
Israel on Wednesday sent a response to Hamas’ latest amendments to a US proposal that would see a 60-day truce and the release of hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, a source familiar with the details said.
