Aid flow into Gaza dropped by two-thirds since Israel's Rafah assault: UN

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says the amount of humanitarian aid entering the Gaza Strip has dropped by two-thirds since Israel began its incursion into the territory’s southern Rafah city.

In a report released on Wednesday, OCHA said a daily average of 176 relief trucks reached Gaza between April 1 and May 6, compared to 58 that reached Gaza between May 7 and May 28, down by 67 percent.

“The amount of food and other aid entering Gaza, already insufficient to meet the soaring needs, has further shrunk since May 7,” it said.

Israel unleashed a genocidal war on Gaza on October 7, which has so far killed at least 36,171 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured 81,420 others.

The occupying regime began a ground offensive in Rafah on May 7, defying calls from the international community not to proceed.

The city, situated on Gaza's southern border with Egypt, is home to about a million displaced Palestinians who have fled from the rest of the besieged territory amid the bloody Israeli onslaught.

The Rafah incursion disrupted aid deliveries to Gaza from the southern crossings of Rafah and Kerem Shalom.

World Central Kitchen halts Rafah aid work amid Israel’s invasion

The charity says it moves its community kitchens further north in the besieged Gaza Strip.

OCHA said aid shipments have diminished “due to the closure of Rafah crossing, the inability to safely and consistently pick up commodities from the Kerem Shalom crossing and limited deliveries through other entry points.”

WHO warns of ‘overwhelming disaster’ in Gaza amid shortage of medicines

Also on Wednesday, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said vital medical supplies are fast running out in Gaza’s remaining hospitals as crossings are shut due to Israel’s Rafah assault.

“The Rafah crossing needs to be opened not just for medical supplies, but for all other humanitarian supplies,” WHO Representative in Palestine Rik Peeperkorn said on the sidelines of the World Health Assembly in Geneva.

“We have distributed an enormous amount of essential emergency medical supplies, but it's not enough. This is such an overwhelming disaster.”

The WHO official also noted that the perilous lack of lifesaving supplies could be reversed if lorries carrying humanitarian aid are allowed into the Gaza Strip in significant numbers.

He further echoed widespread international condemnation of Israel’s Sunday strike on a Rafah displacement camp that killed at least 50 Palestinians and wounded 200 others. Terrifying scenes of the carnage that left tents in flames and victims burned beyond recognition sparked outcry from across the world. 

“WHO actually deplores this attack on displaced people. It demonstrates that there is no safe place in Gaza at all,” he said.

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