GENEVA – The amount of aid Israel has started to allow into war-ravaged Gaza is not nearly enough and is “a smokescreen to pretend the siege is over,” the MSF aid group said on Wednesday.
Israel has come under massive international pressure to abandon its intensified military campaign in Gaza and to allow aid into the territory, where humanitarian agencies say a total blockade has sparked critical food and medicine shortages.
“The Israeli authorities’ decision to allow a ridiculously inadequate amount of aid into Gaza after months of an air-tight siege signals their intention to avoid the accusation of starving people in Gaza, while in fact keeping them barely surviving,” said Pascale Coissard, Medecins Sans Frontieres ( Doctors Without Borders) emergency coordinator in Gaza’s Khan Yunis.”The current authorisation for 100 per day, when the situation is so dire, is woefully inadequate,” MSF said in the statement.
“Meanwhile, evacuation orders are continuing to uproot the population, while Israeli forces are still subjecting health facilities to intensive attacks.”
The UN announced Monday that it had been cleared to send in aid for the first time since Israel imposed a total blockade on March 2, sparking severe shortages of food and medicine.
Israel said 93 trucks had entered Gaza from Israel on Tuesday but the United Nations said the aid had been held up. – AFP
