GENEVA (Reuters) – U.N. agencies said on Tuesday that the two main crossings into the southern Gaza Strip remain shut, virtually cutting off the enclave from outside aid with very few stores stationed inside. The global agency’s humanitarian office spokesperson Jens Laerke told journalists that Israel had shut both the Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings […]
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Gaza is ‘choked off’ from aid since crossing closures, UN agencies say
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GENEVA (Reuters) – U.N. agencies said on Tuesday that the two main crossings into the southern Gaza Strip remain shut, virtually cutting off the enclave from outside aid with very few stores stationed inside.
The global agency’s humanitarian office spokesperson Jens Laerke told journalists that Israel had shut both the Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings for aid and people as part of its so-called “limited scope” military operation in Rafah where around 1 million uprooted people are sheltering.
“The two main arteries for getting aid into Gaza are currently choked off,” he said, adding that U.N. agencies had very low stocks inside the Gaza Strip since humanitarian supplies are consumed straight away. The enclave has just a one-day buffer of fuel stocks, he added.
“If no fuel comes in for a prolonged period of time it would be a very effective way of putting the humanitarian operation in its grave,” he added. A World Health Organization spokesperson said in response to a journalist’s question that no exceptions were being made for sick and injured patients.
While some non-fuel supplies have entered via the northern Erez crossing in recent days, the U.N. agencies said this was insufficient and difficult to deliver to Rafah since it meant crossing active combat zones.
(Reporting by Emma Farge, Editing by Rachel More, William Maclean)