UN calls for safe aid worker access in Gaza conflict

UNITED NATIONS, Sept 23 – On Monday, top United Nations officials called for “an end to the appalling human suffering and humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza, approaching a year into the conflict between Israel and Hamas militants. Heads of U.N. agencies, including UNICEF and the World Food Programme, signed a statement demanding safe and unrestricted access for aid workers, as world leaders convened in New York for the U.N. General Assembly. The statement stressed, “Humanitarians must have safe and unimpeded access to those in need. We cannot do our jobs in the face of overwhelming need and ongoing violence.”

The U.N. has consistently raised concerns about the challenges of delivering aid to Gaza amidst “total lawlessness” in the besieged area. Nearly 300 humanitarian workers, predominantly U.N. staff, have been killed. “The risk of famine persists with all 2.1 million residents still in urgent need of food and livelihood assistance due to restricted humanitarian access,” the officials noted. “Healthcare has been decimated. Over 500 attacks on healthcare have been documented in Gaza.”

Australia, Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia, Japan, Jordan, Sierra Leone, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom announced plans to create a declaration safeguarding humanitarian personnel, inviting all nations to sign. Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong highlighted that “2024 is on track to be the deadliest year on record for aid workers.” She referenced the IDF strike on World Central Kitchen vehicles in April, which killed Australian Zomi Frankcom and her colleagues, underscoring the peril aid workers face in Gaza. Israel’s military apologised for the incident, dismissing two senior commanders and reprimanding three others, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the strikes unintended and tragic.

UNRWA forced to suspend its aid operations today as result of Israel’s permanent expulsion orders in Gaza. UNRWA estimates 1mln people will go without any food aid in a situation in which 96% of the Palestinian population already faces acute malnutrition
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— Nicola Perugini (@PeruginiNic) August 26, 2024

The conflict began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas gunmen attacked Israeli communities, killing around 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages to Gaza. Since then, Israel’s military actions have devastated much of the Palestinian enclave, displacing nearly all of its 2.3 million residents, causing widespread hunger, disease, and over 41,000 deaths, according to Palestinian health authorities. The Israeli military claims it aims to minimise civilian harm and asserts that at least a third of the Palestinian fatalities are militants. It accuses Hamas of using civilians as human shields, a claim Hamas denies.