Humanitarian aid to North Gaza has been largely blocked for the past 66 days following Israel's ground offensive on Oct. 6, leaving between 65,000 and 75,000 Palestinians without access to essential resources such as food, water, electricity, and health care, according to the United Nations.
In the north, Israel has maintained a siege on Beit Lahiya, Beit Hanoun, and Jabaliya, with residents being denied aid, as reported by the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Recently, around 5,500 individuals were forcibly displaced from three schools in Beit Lahiya to Gaza City.
Furthermore, the food crisis in the region has worsened, with only four U.N.-supported bakeries currently operational in the Gaza Strip, all located in Gaza City, OCHA noted.
The senior U.N. humanitarian and reconstruction coordinator for Gaza highlighted the dire situation faced by civilians in Gaza, emphasizing the breakdown in law and order, as well as incidents of looting that have hindered the delivery of food and other essential aid to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in need.
Efforts to secure access for aid convoys to North Gaza and other areas, as well as to allow the entry of commercial goods and reopen the Rafah crossing from Egypt in the south, have been ongoing. Additionally, requests for approval of dual-use items have been made to Israel, though a response from Israel's U.N. mission is pending.
The U.N. has laid out the logistics for a comprehensive operation across Gaza, but stressed the necessity of political will to address the escalating humanitarian crisis in the region. The U.N. official urged Security Council members and the broader international community to advocate for the political will needed to tackle Gaza's worsening situation.
