UNITED NATIONS, Jan 31 : The largest UN agency in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, UNRWA, said Friday that its staff are still providing aid to the people of Gaza and the West Bank including East Jerusalem who depend on them \u201cfor their sheer survival\u201d, a day after the Israeli parliament ban on its activities entered into force.<\/p>\n
The development came as more than 462,000 people are estimated to have crossed from south Gaza to the north since the opening of the Salah ad Din and Al Rashid roads on Monday.<\/p>\n
The UN and humanitarian partners said they are assisting those on the move by providing water, high-energy biscuits and medical care along these two routes.<\/p>\n
Once back in the north, UN aid workers have reported seeing Gazans using shovels to remove rubble and setting up makeshift shelters or tents where their homes used to be.<\/p>\n
Any disruption to UNRWA\u2019s work will have \u201ccatastrophic consequences on the lives and futures of Palestine refugees\u201d, insisted Juliette Touma, Director of Communications for the UN Relief and Works Agency, pointing to the agency\u2019s massive reach into the communities where it has provided free healthcare and education for decades.<\/p>\n
Last October, the Israeli parliament \u2013 the Knesset \u2013 passed two laws that called for ending UNRWA\u2019s operations in its territory and prohibiting Israeli authorities from having any contact with the agency.<\/p>\n
That developed followed Israeli accusations that UNRWA workers were involved in the 7 October attacks inside Israel. Nine staff were sacked after an internal UN investigation for possible involvement.<\/p>\n
Under the Knesset ban, UNRWA was ordered to vacate all premises in occupied East Jerusalem and cease operations in them by 30 January.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur teams continue to serve, even though they themselves in Gaza as an example, they themselves are impacted, they themselves have been forced to flee their homes,\u201d Ms. Touma explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey continue to serve and we are committed as UNRWA to stay and deliver across the Occupied Palestinian Territory. That includes the Gaza Strip, it includes the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem.\u201d<\/p>\n
She noted that no official communication has been received from the Israeli authorities on how the Knesset ban will be implemented across the Occupied Palestinian Territory.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the absence of any durable solution, Palestine refugees will continue to depend on UNRWA for basic services including health and education; and in Gaza, in the aftermath of the devastation caused by the war, for their sheer survival,\u201d Ms. Touma maintained.<\/p>\n
She noted that UNRWA\u2019s health centres continued to receive patients in East Jerusalem in the West Bank on Thursday, while schools were expecting to reopen on Sunday after a scheduled break.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur teams\u2026will continue to provide learning for children. We have around 50,000 boys and girls across the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, who go to UNRWA\u2019s schools,\u201d Ms. Touma said.<\/p>\n
As the UN effort to flood Gaza with aid continues, the World Food Programme (WFP) announced plans to set up more aid distribution points this week in the north, where all of its bakeries are now running once again.<\/p>\n
The UN agency reported that together with UNRWA it has resumed \u201cfully-fledged\u201d food parcel distribution and reached 350,000 people since the ceasefire took effect on 19 January.<\/p>\n
Some 20,000 hot meals are also being distributed daily in Beit Lahia, in the far north, said Antoine Renard, WFP\u2019s Country Director in Palestine, who underscored the need for non-food supplies \u2013 so-called dual use items \u2013 to be allowed into the war-shattered enclave also.<\/p>\n
Echoing that message, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said that only 18 of Gaza\u2019s 36 hospitals are even partly functional, with just one-third \u2013 57 of the 142 primary healthcare centres and 11 field hospitals \u2013 also partly functional.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe ceasefire is good news for our scale up of aid,\u201d said Dr Rik Peeperkorn, WHO representative in OPT. \u201cAs we know, the influx in the north has increased health needs. So 450,000 people have crossed into northern Gaza [and] there\u2019s only there 10 partially functional hospitals in Gaza City and one minimally functional hospital in north Gaza.\u201d<\/p>\n
Amid reports that 2,500 children at risk of imminent death in Gaza need immediate medical evacuation, Dr Peeperkorn said that between 12,000 and 14,000 people need specialized care outside the enclave.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, what we have been asking for all the time\u2026is first and foremost a restoration of the referrals, the traditional referral pathway to West Bank and East Jerusalem. The East Jerusalem hospitals and the West Bank hospitals are ready to receive Gazan and Palestinian critical patients,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
UNITED NATIONS, Jan 31 : The largest UN agency in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, UNRWA, said Friday that its staff are still providing aid to the people of Gaza and the West Bank including East Jerusalem who depend on them \u201cfor their sheer survival\u201d, a […]<\/p>\n
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