The UN said Friday that 70% of the Gaza Strip is either within Israeli militarized zones, under displacement orders, or in areas where the two overlap.
Emphasizing continued obstruction of aid efforts due to Israeli restrictions, UN spokesperson Farhan Haq said at a news conference that UN’s “partners working to support telecommunications in Gaza tell us that the fiber optic cable has been damaged for more than six weeks, while Israeli authorities continue to deny coordination requests to allow us to repair it.”
“The latest rejection was this morning, as the cable is a critical source of data connectivity for humanitarian responders,” Haq said.
He added that UN teams are still struggling to secure consistent access to fuel, and reported that: “Today, a UN team led by OCHA (Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) retrieved some supplies from a fuel station in Rafah after the Israeli authorities facilitated our colleagues’ efforts to reach it.”
“This is the second consecutive day we’ve been allowed to retrieve fuel from Rafah after nearly three weeks of denials,” Haq said.
However, he noted that these supplies “represent a trickle compared to the immense needs,” emphasizing that UN’s “OCHA stresses the need for Israeli authorities to facilitate humanitarian movements inside Gaza.”
“70% of the Gaza Strip is either within the Israeli military militarized zone, under displacement orders, or in areas where these two overlap,” he stated.
Asked about discussions on Israel’s US-backed aid delivery plans, Haq informed that OCHA and its humanitarian partners “attended a meeting with the United States a few days ago as part of our continuing dialog on how to ensure that aid reaches the people of Gaza in line with humanitarian principles.”