The United Nations announced Sunday that considerable advancements are being made in delivering crucial aid to Gaza. This positive development follows the recent cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas, which has enabled humanitarian organizations to significantly expand their efforts across the region.
According to the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, their aid operations are now “well underway.” Gaza has been facing a dire humanitarian crisis, with food supplies and other essential assistance severely limited since the onset of the conflict.
The agency highlighted that reduced restrictions on movement and access across various areas have enabled them to deliver urgently needed medical and emergency supplies. This has also allowed them to help displaced families prepare for the approaching winter months.
For the first time since March, cooking oil has reached Gaza. Additionally, tents, flour, frozen meat, fresh fruit, and medicines were successfully delivered throughout Sunday. The UN and its partners have also distributed hundreds of thousands of hot meals and bread bundles to both northern and southern parts of the territory.
The provision of humanitarian aid has been a contentious issue throughout the conflict. A UN-backed panel of food experts previously declared that certain areas of Gaza were experiencing official famine. Aid organizations have consistently criticized Israel for what they describe as burdensome regulations and limitations on goods entering Gaza.
Israel, however, has refuted these findings. Israeli officials maintain that sufficient food supplies were permitted into the territory, though they have alleged, without providing evidence, that a significant portion was systematically pilfered by Hamas.
In its Sunday statement, the UN further indicated that it has secured Israeli approval for additional aid, including water, shelter materials, medicines, and other critical supplies.
Last week, Tom Fletcher, a senior UN humanitarian official, stated that nearly all of Gaza’s residents require some form of food assistance. This includes half a million people who desperately need treatment for famine-related conditions. He emphasized that the agency had developed a comprehensive plan to ramp up aid delivery during the initial 60 days of the cease-fire.
Mr. Fletcher detailed the UN’s strategy: deploying hundreds of trucks daily to deliver food, expanding efforts to provide shelter, establishing new health care facilities, sending emergency medical teams into Gaza, and assisting with the restoration of essential municipal services such as clean water, functional sewage systems, and regular garbage collection.