Impediments continue to hinder Gaza aid: UN

Since the Oct. 10 ceasefire and up to Nov. 3, the United Nations and its partners have collected more than 37,000 tonnes of aid from Gaza's crossings, mostly food, according to the UN 2720 Mechanism.

UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) -- Despite significant progress in scaling up aid since the Gaza ceasefire, delays in lifting impediments mean urgent needs are still unmet, UN humanitarians said Friday.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that aid entry remains limited to only two crossings, with no direct access from Israel to northern Gaza or from Egypt to southern Gaza, adding that certain items and staff of non-governmental organizations are not allowed in.

UN partners working on shelter support say that most displaced people remain in overcrowded makeshift sites, many of which were established spontaneously in open or unsafe areas.

They say that once impediments are lifted, they have enough materials in the pipeline to meet most of the needs of nearly 1.5 million Palestinians requiring such assistance.

However, there has been progress on the food front.

Since the Oct. 10 ceasefire and up to Nov. 3, the United Nations and its partners have collected more than 37,000 tonnes of aid from Gaza's crossings, mostly food, according to the UN 2720 Mechanism, OCHA said.

Since the ceasefire, the World Food Programme has reached over 1 million people with food distributions, hot meals, bakery support, fortified snacks for children, expanded nutrition services and digital cash assistance.

OCHA said that a recent geospatial analysis by the Food and Agriculture Organization and the UN Satellite Centre showed that only 13 percent of cropland in the Gaza Strip has not been damaged, and most of it remains inaccessible due to its location in areas where the Israeli military remains deployed. ■