WHO Official: US-built Pier in Gaza Not Sufficient in Delivering Aid to Palestinians

Ships appear near the pier established by the US in Gaza (Reuters)
Ships appear near the pier established by the US in Gaza (Reuters)
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WHO Official: US-built Pier in Gaza Not Sufficient in Delivering Aid to Palestinians

Ships appear near the pier established by the US in Gaza (Reuters)
Ships appear near the pier established by the US in Gaza (Reuters)

The reconnected US-built pier off the coast of the Gaza Strip cannot supply Palestinians with anywhere near the level of aid they need, the head of the World Health Organization’s Eastern Mediterranean region said Monday.

Dr. Hanan Balkhy made the remarks after the US military began delivering aid through the floating pier again, after it was removed a second time because of rough seas.

“The pier has supported a little bit, but it’s not to the scale that is needed by any stretch of the imagination,” Balkhy told The Associated Press in an interview. “So we need to emphasize on the land routes to ensure the amount and the quantity and the efficiency.”

The organization says that since Israel launched its ground operation into Rafah, aid delivery had declined by 67%, with over 50 WHO trucks stuck on the Egyptian side of the crossing into the southern city. Meanwhile, just three trucks were allowed into Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing.

Israel says it has allowed hundreds of truckloads of aid through the crossing, but says the UN has failed to pick it up. The UN says it is too dangerous for trucks to move through the area due to rampant lawlessness, despite Israeli pledges to carve out a safe corridor.

Israel’s war against Hamas, now in its ninth month, continues to face growing international criticism over widespread destruction in Gaza and a huge toll in civilian lives.

Aid groups have regularly criticized the plan to deliver aid to Gaza by sea as ineffective and a distraction that has taken pressure pressure off Israel to open land border crossings that can deliver aid in larger numbers.

And despite some increased aid into northern Gaza, experts say the enclave is at “high risk” of famine. Overcrowded hospitals struggle to keep the lights on due to lack of fuel and there are medicine shortages, while also sheltering many displaced Palestinians.

Delivering aid through two key Gaza land border crossings has been especially difficult after Israeli troops seized the strategic Rafah crossing with Egypt in May. WHO has also struggled to evacuate some 10,000 patients in Gaza who it says urgently need treatment abroad.

WHO says its last dispatch of aid that reached Gaza was a rare delivery into the north to the Kamal Adwan and Al Awda hospitals.

“Almost everything is being prohibited, and some of the needed commodities are being delivered, but as I mentioned not at the scale that is needed for the people of Gaza,” Balkhy said.

She warned that the dire condition of hospitals as well as poor living conditions and “significant malnutrition,” is ripe for the spread of infectious diseases.

“We’re talking about larger numbers of children, and patients with scabies, diarrhea, lice, rashes of unknown causes,” she said. “Every time there’s a lack of hygiene, infectious diseases caused by pathogens start to flourish."



UN Seeks $6 Billion to Ease Hunger Catastrophe in Sudan

Displaced Sudanese, who fled the Zamzam camp, gather near the town of Tawila in North Darfur on February 14, 2025. (AFP)
Displaced Sudanese, who fled the Zamzam camp, gather near the town of Tawila in North Darfur on February 14, 2025. (AFP)
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UN Seeks $6 Billion to Ease Hunger Catastrophe in Sudan

Displaced Sudanese, who fled the Zamzam camp, gather near the town of Tawila in North Darfur on February 14, 2025. (AFP)
Displaced Sudanese, who fled the Zamzam camp, gather near the town of Tawila in North Darfur on February 14, 2025. (AFP)

UN officials on Monday asked for $6 billion for Sudan this year from donors to help ease what they called the world's worst ever hunger catastrophe and the mass displacement of people brought on by civil war.

The UN appeal represents a rise of more than 40% from last year's for Sudan at a time when aid budgets around the world are under strain, partly due to a pause in funding announced by US President Donald Trump last month that has affected life-saving programs across the globe.

The UN says the funds are necessary because the impact of the 22-month war between Sudan's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) - that has already displaced a fifth of its population and stoked severe hunger among around half its population - looks set to worsen.

World Food Program chief Cindy McCain, speaking via video to a room full of diplomats in Geneva, said: "Sudan is now the epicenter of the world's largest and most severe hunger crisis ever."

She did not provide figures, but Sudan's total population currently stands at about 48 million people. Among previous world famines, the Bengal Famine of 1943 claimed between 2 million and 3 million lives, according to several estimates, while millions are believed to have died in the Great Chinese Famine of 1959-61.

Famine conditions have been reported in at least five locations in Sudan, including displacement camps in Darfur, a UN statement said, and this was set to worsen with continued fighting and the collapse of basic services.

"This is a humanitarian crisis that is truly unprecedented in its scale and its gravity and it demands a response unprecedented in scale and intent," UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher said.

One of the famine-stricken camps was attacked by the RSF last week as the group tries to tighten its grip on its Darfur stronghold.

While some aid agencies say they have received waivers from Washington to provide aid in Sudan, uncertainty remains on the extent of coverage for providing famine relief.

The UN plan aims to reach nearly 21 million people within the country, making it the most ambitious humanitarian response so far for 2025, and requires $4.2 billion - the rest being for those displaced by the conflict.