The appeal is contained in a statement jointly issued on Monday by the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Tom Fletcher; UNICEF Executive Director, Catherine Russell; UNOPS Executive Director, Jorge Moreira da Silva; Commissioner-General of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini; Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP), Cindy McCain and; Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
In the statement, the UN officials stressed the need for urgent action to protect civilians, facilitate aid, release hostages and renew a ceasefire.
“For over a month, no commercial or humanitarian supplies have entered Gaza,” they regretted.
According to the rest of the statement, “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 1,000 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.”
