The UN’s World Food Program reported several days ago that all humanitarian assistance into northern Gaza had ceased since the beginning of October. Today, at an emergency UN Security Council meeting, called by Algeria, France and the U.K., the matter of Israel’s blocking of all aid trucks came under fire.
David Lammy, the British Foreign Secretary, issued a statement saying that the three countries had called for an urgent UNSC meeting to address Israel’s duty to protect civilians and for life-saving aid to be allowed through. He said: “The humanitarian situation in northern Gaza is dire, with access to basic services worsening and the United Nations reporting that barely any food has entered in the last two weeks,” Lammy adds.
Initial reports from the session, China’s Ambassador to the UN Fu Cong stated: “Israel has not relented in its military operations in Gaza at all but has constantly attacked and bombed schools and hospitals, completely cut off access to humanitarian supplies in northern Gaza and once again forcibly ordered an emergent evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people.” Israel needs to “cooperate fully with the UN and other humanitarian entities to facilitate and ensure the safety of humanitarian operations, such as transportation of humanitarian supplies and polio vaccination.... They are all human beings like us. Why, when born in Gaza, do they have to suffer like this?”
