Israeli forces are “systematically” blocking access to people in the Gaza Strip in need of humanitarian aid, complicating the already difficult task of delivering that aid to the chaotic war zone, the UN warned on Tuesday.
It has become almost impossible to conduct medical evacuations and deliver aid to the north of the Gaza Strip and increasingly difficult to the south, Jens Laerke, spokesman for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told reporters in Geneva.
All aid convoys scheduled for the north have been rejected by the Israeli authorities in recent weeks, and the last one to receive approval was on January 23, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Even convoys that received the approval of the Israeli authorities were blocked and attacked several times.
Laerke cited as an example the incident that occurred on Sunday when a WHO-Palestinian Red Crescent convoy that was supposed to evacuate patients from the besieged Al Amal Hospital in Khan Yunis was blocked for hours and emergency workers were arrested.
“Despite prior coordination with Israeli authorities for all staff members and vehicles, Israeli forces blocked the WHO convoy for several hours as soon as it left the hospital,” he said.
“The Israeli soldiers forced the patients and staff out of the ambulance and forced the medical staff to undress,” he added, specifying that the convoy carrying 24 patients was blocked for seven hours.
After that, three members of the Palestinian Red Crescent were arrested, although Israeli forces received their information in advance, he added, noting that only one of them has been released so far.
“This is not an isolated incident,” he stressed.
“Aid convoys were attacked and access to people in need is systematically denied.”, Hina news agency writes.
