عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Arab World

UNRWA Outraged as Israel No Longer Approves Food Convoys to Northern Gaza

Internally displaced Palestinians, including children, carry their belongings as they walk at a street after the Israeli army asked residents of Khan Yunis town to leave their homes and head to camps in Rafah near the border with Egypt, during an Israeli military operation in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza Strip, 24 March 2024. EPA/MOHAMMED SABER
Internally displaced Palestinians, including children, carry their belongings as they walk at a street after the Israeli army asked residents of Khan Yunis town to leave their homes and head to camps in Rafah near the border with Egypt, during an Israeli military operation in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza Strip, 24 March 2024. EPA/MOHAMMED SABER
TT
TT

UNRWA Outraged as Israel No Longer Approves Food Convoys to Northern Gaza

Internally displaced Palestinians, including children, carry their belongings as they walk at a street after the Israeli army asked residents of Khan Yunis town to leave their homes and head to camps in Rafah near the border with Egypt, during an Israeli military operation in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza Strip, 24 March 2024. EPA/MOHAMMED SABER
Internally displaced Palestinians, including children, carry their belongings as they walk at a street after the Israeli army asked residents of Khan Yunis town to leave their homes and head to camps in Rafah near the border with Egypt, during an Israeli military operation in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza Strip, 24 March 2024. EPA/MOHAMMED SABER

The head of the UN Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) said on Sunday Israel had informed the United Nations that it will no longer approve UNRWA food convoys to the north of Gaza.

"This is outrageous and makes it intentional to obstruct lifesaving assistance during a man-made famine. These restrictions must be lifted," UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini said on social media platform X.

UNRWA, which provides aid and services to Palestinian refugees in Gaza and across the region, has been in crisis since Israel accused a dozen of its staff of involvement in the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks against Israel.

The allegations prompted UNRWA's biggest donor, the United States, and some others to pause funding, putting the agency's future in doubt. However, other countries including Canada, Australia and Sweden have since restored funding.

UNRWA and Egypt said last week that Lazzarini, who was on a visit to Cairo, was denied entry to Gaza by Israeli authorities.

"By preventing UNRWA to fulfill its mandate in Gaza, the clock will tick faster towards famine & many more will die of hunger, dehydration + lack of shelter," Lazzarini added.

Most Viewed

 
 
Arab World

Sudan's RSF Agrees with UN on Steps to Ease Aid Delivery

Sudanese farmers plow a field on the outskirts of Sudan's eastern city of Gedaref on July 18, 2024. (Photo by AFP)
Sudanese farmers plow a field on the outskirts of Sudan's eastern city of Gedaref on July 18, 2024. (Photo by AFP)
TT
TT

Sudan's RSF Agrees with UN on Steps to Ease Aid Delivery

Sudanese farmers plow a field on the outskirts of Sudan's eastern city of Gedaref on July 18, 2024. (Photo by AFP)
Sudanese farmers plow a field on the outskirts of Sudan's eastern city of Gedaref on July 18, 2024. (Photo by AFP)

Sudan's Rapid Support Forces agreed with the United Nations on some steps to ease aid delivery in areas under its control, a member of the RSF told Reuters on Thursday.

The Sudanese army has not reached any understandings on aid delivers with the RSF, he added. It is unclear if these steps could be implemented without the army's participation.

Meanwhile, a key supply route into Sudan's Darfur region, deemed at risk of famine by a global monitor, has been cut off due to heavy rains, a World Food Program official told Reuters on Thursday.
The UN agency has described Sudan as the world's biggest hunger crisis, with the western Darfur region most at risk as Sudan's 15-month civil war that has displaced millions and sparked ethnic violence grinds on.
WFP's Country Director Eddie Rowe said thousands of tons of aid are stranded at the Tina crossing on the Chad border, prompting the body to reopen talks with the army-aligned government to open an alternative, all-weather crossing further south called Adre.
"You have these huge rivers. As I speak now, our convoy, which is supposed to move over 2000 metric tons is stranded," he told Reuters from Port Sudan. Asked on the status of the talks that resumed this week, he said: "It's 50/50.”
WFP is now seeking clearances to move a large 70-truck convoy via a little-used, over 1000 kilometer route from Port Sudan to Darfur which Rowe said will involve crossing the battle lines of both the Sudan Armed Forces, the Rapid Support Forces and various militias.
He added that this mostly desert route has worked in the past but outside of the rainy season and that the last journey took weeks and was "fraught with a lot of challenges.”
In a separate interview, Mona Rishmawi, a member of the UN Fact-Finding Mission on Sudan, told Reuters that she had met Darfur refugees in Chad who told her stories of escaping with virtually no water and eating grass along the route. "There's no doubt that people are starving," she said.