As the Gaza Strip is being stricken by winter storms, several Middle Eastern and Asian nations have urged Israel to allow “immediate, full, and unhinged” deliveries of humanitarian aid to the region.
The “deteriorating” conditions in Gaza had made nearly 1.9 million Palestinians especially vulnerable, according to a statement released on Friday by the foreign ministers of Qatar, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Turkiye, Pakistan, and Indonesia.
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The statement reads, “Flooded camps, damaged tents, the collapse of damaged buildings, exposed to cold temperatures, combined with malnutrition, have significantly increased risks to civilian lives.”
They demanded that Israel, the occupying power, immediately impose restrictions on the entry and distribution of essential supplies, including tents, shelter materials, medical assistance, clean water, fuel, and sanitation support.
Despite its obligations under international law to ensure that the basic needs of Palestinians in the enclave are met, Israel has continued to impose stringent restrictions on the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza.
According to a US-brokered ceasefire signed in October, Israel and Hamas were required to allow hundreds of aid trucks into Gaza every day.
Despite increasingly challenging winter conditions in the coastal territory and a lack of adequate shelter, blankets, and other supplies, Israel has continued to obstruct deliveries.
Because of Israel’s genocidal war, hundreds of thousands of Palestinian families have fled Gaza and crowded tent camps across the country.
In recent weeks, several people have died as a result of heavy rain and flooding that caused damaged buildings to collapse. As the enclave continues to be sweltering with low temperatures, Palestinian children have also perished from hypothermia.
One Palestinian was killed and several others were hurt by Israeli forces in southern Gaza on Friday, according to Nasser Hospital.
A source at al-Shifa Hospital reported that a woman and two children were seriously injured when an Israeli drone fired a grenade at a tent in Beit Lahiya, in the north of the Strip, at a Palestinian hospital.
Putting a stop to aid efforts is “unacceptable.”
The foreign ministers praised the United Nations and other humanitarian organizations for continuing to aid Palestinians in Gaza “under extremely difficult and complex circumstances.”
Given the important role that UN organizations and international nonprofit organizations play in providing humanitarian aid, they also demanded that Israel permit them to operate in Gaza and the occupied West Bank “in a sustained, predictable, and unrestricted manner.”
They remarked that “any attempt to impede their ability to operate is unacceptable.”
Israel is putting a stop to 37 international NGOs working in Gaza and the West Bank because they broke new registration requirements, as Israel did this week.
Experts have criticized the Israeli government’s new regulations as arbitrarily harsh and in violation of humanitarian law, which call for the organizations to provide detailed information on their staff, funding, and operations.
The NGOs also have concerns that the Israeli military might target Palestinian workers who give them personal information.
Since its war started in the Gaza region in October 2023, Israel has killed about 500 aid workers and volunteers there, according to the government of Gaza.
One of the organizations targeted by the NGO ban, Doctors Without Borders, announced in a statement on Friday that 15 of its colleagues had been killed by Israeli forces.
Source: Aljazeera
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