Sigrid Kaag’s visit to Gaza, critical shortage of aid commodities – Highlights of the noon briefing by Spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General – 05 September 2024

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Gaza-Polio

Sigrid Kaag, the Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza, visited the Gaza Strip earlier today to see firsthand the polio vaccination efforts that are taking place as we speak.

Ms. Kaag visited the training centre at Khan Younis, where the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has rebuilt a logistics base, and a Japanese health clinic where UNRWA is administering polio vaccinations.

The polio vaccination campaign just began today in south Gaza. As we told you yesterday, the first phase of polio vaccination in central Gaza has been completed, with 187,000 children under the age of ten being vaccinated – well over the target of 156,000.

Occupied Palestinian Territory

Meanwhile, in Gaza, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that despite the challenges we face, the UN and other humanitarian organizations continue to do everything possible to provide life-saving aid to Palestinians.

The UN humanitarian partners say that between 19 August and the end of the month, 450,000 cooked meals prepared in 130 kitchens were provided daily to families across the Strip. However, despite this progress, it bears repeating that the humanitarian situation in Gaza remains beyond catastrophic and we still do not have all the conditions necessary to support people near the scale that they actually need.

The cooked meals provided represent a 35 per cent decrease, compared with up to 700,000 meals provided at more than 200 kitchens in July.

This is in part attributed to the multiple evacuation orders issued by the Israeli security forces, with at least 70 kitchens forced to either suspend cooked meal provision or relocate.

Similarly, our partners tell us that more than one million people did not receive any food rations in August in southern and central Gaza through humanitarian means. Partners lack sufficient food stocks to meet requirements for the second consecutive month and will only be able to provide one food parcel to families in central and southern Gaza during the September distribution cycle.

Ongoing hostilities, insecurity, damaged roads, the breakdown of law and order, and access limitations have resulted in critical shortages of aid commodities to sustain operations, increasing the risk of spoilage and infestation of food supplies due to high temperatures.

The Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, said today in a social media post that, 11 months into the war, international media crews are still banned from entering Gaza to report on the humanitarian impact.

Turning to the West Bank, OCHA reports that Israeli forces continue to utilize lethal war-like tactics, including airstrikes, in Jenin, Tubas and Tulkarm. Today, this has resulted in additional fatalities and injuries, and more roads and infrastructure have been destroyed or damaged.

Medical facilities have been virtually besieged for over a week now, with heavy restrictions imposed on the movement of ambulances and medical staff.
OCHA also warns that this is deepening people’s humanitarian needs as well as insecurity and raises concerns over excessive use of force.

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