The United Nations launches an urgent humanitarian appeal to support 3 million people in the occupied Palestinian territory

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Urgent appeal – Contemporary history has never witnessed such a pace and scale of killing and destruction in the Gaza Strip, while at the same time violence in the West Bank – including East Jerusalem – has escalated significantly.

He pointed out that the needs have greatly worsened as a result of the repercussions of the intense and ongoing military operations, repeated evacuation orders, and restrictions imposed on the ability of humanitarian agencies to deliver aid to populations in need. The United Nations and its partners estimate that the actual needs are much greater and that the amount required to meet them is no less than $6.6 billion.

The UN office said: “They are being killed by bombs or bullets, or they are slowly suffocating because they lack the most basic means of survival. Gaza has become the most dangerous place in the world and the most difficult in terms of delivering humanitarian aid.”

OCHA added that crossing points into Gaza remain restricted or closed, humanitarian law and notification mechanisms are not respected, staff are being detained at gunpoint at checkpoints, and residents are forced to rely on very scarce aid due to the collapse of public order and security inside Gaza.

The office identified a number of basic conditions that must be in place to provide principled humanitarian assistance on the required scale, including ensuring the ability of humanitarian actors to deliver relief safely and sustainably to all those in need, increasing entry points and supply routes across land into and within Gaza, and improving security in the Strip to enable movement. Safe for humanitarian goods and relief personnel.

More on the situation regarding the occupied Palestinian territory later.