UNITED NATIONS, September 16. /TASS/. The United Nation may stop its activity in the Gaza Strip if problems with humanitarian deliveries continue, Russia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vasilyt Nebenzya said.
"Humanitarian workers keep on loudly lamenting not only about absolutely scanty supplies of food, fuel and medicine, but also about problems created by Israel and its regular refusals to allow humanitarian operations. For instance, in August, according to the UN data, the number of such refusals doubled," he said at a UN Security Council meeting on Palestine.
"It is obvious that the currently used route from Jordan, Egypt, and Israel is not enough to deliver as much of humanitarian aid as needed. As a matter of fact, the current daily capacity is mere 70 trucks, whereas up to 500 trucks entered Gaza per day before the crisis."
The Russian diplomat warned that if the situation continues to be a s it is now, "the developments may lead to the cessation of the UN activity in the Gaza Strip." "In such an event, more than two million Palestinians will find themselves face to face with death. This is not a metaphor but a real perspective," he added.
The Al-Qahira Al-Ekhbariya television channel reported on September 13, citing an official of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, OCHA, that nearly half of OCHA attempts to reach the northern part of the Gaza Strip had failed due to the Israeli side’s refusal.
Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7 after militants from the Gaza Strip-based radical Palestinian group Hamas launched a surprise incursion on Israeli territory, killing many Israeli kibbutz residents living near the Gaza border and abducting more than 240 Israelis, including women, children and the elderly. Israel declared a total blockade of the Gaza Strip and launched bombardments of the enclave and some areas in Lebanon and Syria, as well as a ground operation against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Clashes are also reported in the West Bank.