Charity Doctors Without Borders says the amount of aid allowed into Gaza is not enough amid growing fears of famine.
At least 52 people have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza, medical sources told media, as pressure mounts on Tel Aviv to allow significant humanitarian aid into the besieged enclave to avert a looming famine.
Israeli air strikes and tank fire continued to pound the besieged territory on Wednesday. Among those killed were at least eight people in Gaza City, two people in central Gaza’s Nuseirat camp and two people in the Maghazi camp in central Gaza, according to media reporters in Gaza.
The attacks come after Israel began allowing dozens of humanitarian trucks into Gaza on Tuesday, but the aid has not yet reached Palestinians in desperate need.
Jens Laerke, the spokesperson for the UN’s humanitarian agency, said no trucks were picked up from the Gaza side of Karem Abu Salem crossing, known as Kerem Shalom to Israelis, in southern Gaza.
Israel announced that 93 aid trucks had entered Gaza from Israel following an 11-week blockade.
Reporting from Deir el-Balah, central Gaza, media’s Tareq Abu Azzoum explained that most of those trucks had only received military clearance to enter the Palestinian side of the crossing.
“They are still stuck at the border crossing. Only five trucks have made it in,” Abu Azzoum said, adding, “This could be another sign of the systematic obstruction of aid in Gaza.”
Aid groups have said that the amount of aid that Israel is allowing is not nearly enough, calling Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s efforts a “smokescreen to pretend the siege is over”.
A few dozen Israeli activists opposed to Israel’s decision to allow aid into Gaza while Hamas still holds Israeli captives attempted to block the trucks carrying the aid on Wednesday morning, but were kept back by Israeli police.
Israel is facing growing international pressure over its renewed offensive on Gaza.
The United Kingdom has suspended talks with Israel on a free trade deal, and the European Union said it will review a pact on political and economic ties over the “catastrophic situation” in Gaza. Britain, France and Canada have threatened “concrete actions” if Israel continues its offensive.
Pope Leo on Wednesday also appealed for Israel to allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza.
“I renew my fervent appeal to allow for the entry of fair humanitarian help and to bring to an end the hostilities, the devastating price of which is paid by children, the elderly and the sick,” the pope said during his weekly general audience in Saint Peter’s Square.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday urged world leaders to take immediate action to end Israel’s siege on Gaza, issuing the appeal in a written statement during a visit to Beirut, where he is expected to discuss the disarmament of Palestinian factions in Lebanon’s refugee camps.
“I call on world leaders to take urgent and decisive measures to break the siege on our people in the Gaza Strip,” Abbas said, demanding the immediate entry of aid, an end to the Israeli offensive, the release of detainees and a full withdrawal from Gaza.
United Arab Emirates Dirham Exchange Rate
