UN reports more than 423,000 people crossing from southern to northern Gaza

The UN, on Wednesday, reported nearly 430,000 people moving from the southern Gaza Strip to the north, Anadolu Agency reports.

“Our humanitarian partners estimate that more than 423,000 people have crossed from south to north since the opening of the Salah Ad-Din and Al Rashid roads on Monday,” said spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, during a news conference.

Saying that aid workers on the ground are providing food, water and hygiene kits to those on the move, Dujarric said the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) “is distributing identification bracelets for children to help families stay safe and connected along the way.”

“Those on the move also include unaccompanied children, pregnant women, older people, chronically ill and people with disabilities and those in need of continuous medical care,” he added.

Dujarric also highlighted the “drastic deterioration in the humanitarian and protective protection situation” in the Occupied West Bank.

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“Israeli forces continue their operations in the Jenin and Tulkarm governorates in the northern West Bank. We’ve repeatedly expressed concerns over the use of lethal, war-like tactics during these operations,” he said.

Citing the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Dujarric reported that “civilian infrastructure being destroyed and essential services being disrupted” in the Occupied West Bank.

He said nearly 1,000 Palestinians have been displaced by the disruption to essential services.

Asked about Israel’s impending ban on the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) that is to take effect Thursday, Dujarric said the UN has “taken some measures” and affirmed that the UN agency “will continue to deliver on its mandate, “until it physically cannot”.

Regarding the possible threat by Israeli law enforcement against the Agency and its personnel, Dujarric said: “The personnel, both national and international, will need to be protected according to international laws and according to Israel’s obligations under international law.”

Dujarric also noted that there were no assurances given by Israel to the UN on protecting its staff.

Israel’s Knesset (parliament) voted in October to ban UNRWA’s operations in areas under Israeli Occupation, alleging that the UN Agency’s employees were involved in a Hamas attack on 7 October, 2023 — a charge UNRWA denies.

The ban, which comes amid ongoing hostilities in Gaza, has raised alarms about disruptions to critical aid for millions of Palestinian refugees. UN officials have repeatedly warned that such measures could exacerbate the already dire humanitarian crisis.

UNRWA, which has operated since 1949, provides essential services such as education and health care to Palestinian refugees across the West Bank, Gaza, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria. Despite political and financial challenges, the Agency has remained a lifeline for vulnerable communities.

Israel has repeatedly equated UNRWA staff with Hamas members in efforts to discredit them, providing no proof of the claims, while lobbying hard to have UNRWA closed as it is the only UN agency to have a specific mandate to look after the basic needs of Palestinian refugees. If the agency no longer exists, argues Israel, then the refugee issue must no longer exist, and the legitimate right for Palestinian refugees to return to their land will be unnecessary. Israel has denied that right of return since the late 1940s, even though its own membership of the UN was made conditional upon Palestinian refugees being allowed to return to their homes and land.

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