For over a month, no commercial or humanitarian supplies have
entered Gaza.
More than 2.1 million people are trapped, bombed and starved
again, while, at crossing points, food, medicine, fuel and shelter supplies are
piling up, and vital equipment is stuck.
Over 1000 children have reportedly been killed or
injured in just the first week after the breakdown of the ceasefire,
the highest one-week death toll among children in Gaza in the past
year.
Just a few days ago, the 25 bakeries supported by the World Food
Programme during the ceasefire had to close due to flour and cooking gas
shortages.
The partially functional health system is overwhelmed. Essential
medical and trauma supplies are rapidly running out, threatening to reverse
hard-won progress in keeping the health system operational.
The latest ceasefire allowed us to achieve in 60 days what
bombs, obstruction and lootings prevented us from doing in 470 days of war:
life-saving supplies reaching nearly every part of Gaza.
While this offered a short respite, assertions that there is now
enough food to feed all Palestinians in Gaza are far from the reality on the
ground, and commodities are running extremely low.
We are witnessing acts of war in Gaza that show an utter
disregard for human life.
New Israeli displacement orders have forced hundreds of
thousands of Palestinians to flee yet again, with no safe place to go.
No one is safe. At least 408 humanitarian workers, including
over 280 from UNRWA, have been killed since October 2023.
With the tightened Israeli blockade on Gaza now in its second
month, we appeal to world leaders to act – firmly, urgently and decisively – to
ensure the basic principles of international humanitarian law are upheld.
Protect civilians. Facilitate aid. Release hostages. Renew a
ceasefire.
+++
Tom Fletcher, Under-Secretary-General
for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator
Catherine Russell, Executive Director, UNICEF
Jorge Moreira da Silva, Executive Director, UNOPS
Philippe Lazzarini,
Commissioner-General, UNRWA
Cindy McCain, Executive Director, WFP
Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, Director-General, WHO
Amy Pope, Director-General, IOM
