More aid flows into Gaza and life-saving services expand

The office – known as OCHA – added that aid shipments and humanitarian workers are arriving in areas that were previously difficult to reach. UN humanitarian partners on the ground report that the working environment has improved significantly.

UN Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq said that the increase in supplies entering Gaza every day and the return of law and order have allowed relief organizations to expand the scope of providing life-saving aid and services.

Full rations

In his daily press conference, the spokesman said that UN partners have resumed monthly food distribution with full rations in central and southern Gaza. Yesterday, humanitarian organizations transported 118 trucks of food parcels and flour from UNRWA warehouses to more than 60 distribution points in the south.

Across southern Gaza, UNICEF continues to deliver high-energy biscuits and ready-to-use foods – enough for thousands of children.

Farhan Haq added: “While food supplies currently constitute the bulk of the supplies that have entered the Gaza Strip since the ceasefire took effect, more medicines, shelter materials, water, sanitation, and hygiene supplies are expected to arrive in the coming days.”

Yesterday, United Nations partners in southern Gaza distributed single-use medical supplies and trauma treatment tools to 14 hospitals, in addition to sexual and reproductive health supplies to 28 health facilities, enough for 58,000 people.

Fuel supply

Meanwhile, water wells, desalination plants and sewage pumps continue to operate in central and southern Gaza thanks to fuel deliveries. Farhan Haq said that the United Nations humanitarian partners delivered seven trucks of fuel to northern Gaza, the first shipment of its kind since the start of the ceasefire.

He added that these supplies will help operate backup generators that support the vital humanitarian services provided by UNRWA, the World Food Programme, the World Health Organization and others.

In Gaza City, two UNRWA basic health service points were reopened yesterday: Al-Shati Health Center and Daraj Medical Point.

Across the Strip, OCHA reports that the majority of Palestinians remain in displacement sites – either because their homes are in ruins, contaminated with explosive ordnance, or because movement into northern Gaza has not yet been permitted.

West Bank

In the West Bank, OCHA reports that water and electricity are cut off from Jenin Governmental Hospital, and that access to it is very difficult due to damage to the roads.

The hospital is relying on dwindling water reserves from emergency tanks installed just weeks ago thanks to the Humanitarian Aid Fund for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, administered by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Peacekeeping official visits the Middle East

Starting Saturday, UN Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, will visit Syria to meet with individuals United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (Ondov), then heads to headquarters United Nations Truce Supervision Organization in Jerusalem.

During the visit, Lacroix will express his solidarity and support for the United Nations peacekeeping forces and highlight the importance of working to remove mines and explosive remnants of war. In the Syrian capital, Damascus, Lacroix is ​​scheduled to meet with the caretaker authorities. He will also meet in Jerusalem with the Israeli authorities.