[News] UN halts aid operations in Gaza after Israeli ejection order

[Anti-Imperialist News]

middleeasteye.net
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/un-halts-aid-operation-gaza-israel-ejection-order>
UN halts aid operations in Gaza after Israeli ejection order
By MEE staff
------------------------------

Pause in operations comes ahead of UN campaign to vaccinate 640,000
children in Gaza against polio

Palestinians inspect damage following Israeli bombardment on Khan Yunis in
the southern Gaza Strip on 27 August 2024 (AFP/Bashar Taleb)

Published date: 27 August 2024

United Nations aid operations in Gaza were halted on Monday after an Israeli
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/israel> order forcibly ejected
Palestinians <https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/palestine> from Deir
al-Balah, in central Gaza, where the UN's operation centre is located.

The order came as the UN prepared to begin a campaign to vaccinate around
640,000 children under the age of 10 in Gaza against polio, days after a
10-month-old baby was paralysed by the type 2 poliovirus.

"We're unable to deliver today with the conditions that we're in," a senior
UN official told Reuters. "As of this morning, we're not operating in Gaza."

"Where do we move now?" the official said, adding that staff were forced to
move so quickly that equipment was left behind.

Despite the halt, the UN was not formally suspending aid operations.

"We're not leaving because the people need us there," the official said.
"We're trying to balance the need of the population with the need for
safety and security of the UN personnel."

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The UN's main operations centre had formerly been in Rafah, in southern
Gaza, until Israel ejected over a million Palestinians from the area
earlier this year.

Gaza's resident have repeatedly stated that there are no so-called safe
zones in the besieged strip, with Israel frequently targeting areas it had
designated as humanitarian zones.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa), which operates differently
from other UN bodies in Gaza, continued to deliver health and other
services on Monday, but said it was facing serious challenges.

More than 200 Unrwa staff have been killed by Israeli forces.

"We are being squeezed into ever smaller areas of Gaza," Sam Rose, a senior
field director at Unrwa told reporters.

"The humanitarian zone declared by Israel has shrunk. It's now about 11
percent of the entire Gaza Strip. But this isn't 11 percent of land that is
fit for habitation, fit for services, fit for life."

According to Unrwa, only three out of 18 water wells in Deir al-Balah were
functioning, leading to an 85 percent water shortfall.

Rose said that over 3,000 people were set to work on the polio vaccination
campaign, which is set to begin on Saturday. The case of the baby with type
2 polio was the first such case in Gaza in 25 years.

Meanwhile, the World Food Programme (WFP) said on Monday that it had
managed "to bring in only half of the 24,000 metric tonnes of food aid
required for operations serving 1.1 million people".

Israeli forces have killed more than 40,000 Palestinians in Gaza since the
war began on 7 October, the majority of whom are women and children.
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