04/17/2024April 17, 2024
UN to launch global appeal for Gaza as aid obstacles remain
The is set to launch a global “flash appeal” for donations on Wednesday to help ward off the threat of famine in the war-ravaged .
“With the entire humanitarian community we will appeal for $2.8 billion (€2.64 billion) to support the three million people identified across the West Bank and Gaza,” said Andrea De Domenico, head of the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the , adding that 90% of the funds raised would be for Gaza.
He said that the UN initially wanted to raise $4 billion but said the “limited ability to deliver [aid]” had forced them to prioritize.
Despite some improvement in coordination with , aid deliveries to the enclave still face difficulties such as long checkpoint delays. Last week, according to De Domenico, 41% of requests to deliver aid to northern Gaza were denied.
“We’re dealing with this dance where we do one step forward, two steps backward, or two steps forward, one step backward, which leaves us basically always at the same point,” De Domenico told reporters. “For every new opportunity that we’ve been given, we find yet another challenge to deal with. So it’s really difficult for us to scale up to where we would like to be.”
After threatened to place conditions on US support for Israel if it did not take steps to alleviate the humanitarian crisis, Israel reopened the Erez border crossing into northern Gaza and approved temporary use of the southern Israeli port of Ashdod.
De Domenico acknowledged a “steady increase of the number of trucks that have entered” but said the problem is much bigger.
“It’s not just about food; famine is much more complex,” he said. “It’s much bigger than simply bringing in flour. Water, sanitation and health are fundamental to curb famine.”
The UN has warned that thousands of Gazans face famine, particularly in the north of the enclave where the distribution of food and aid has been limited.
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