The UN accuses the Israeli army of blocking the Rafah crossing in Gaza: “It will bury the humanitarian operation”

The UN has been denied access by Israel through the Rafah crossing point in the Gaza Strip, the organization announced on Tuesday, stressing that aid can no longer enter Palestinian territory, reports AFP, according to Agerpres.

“We currently have no physical presence at the Rafah crossing because COGAT (the Israeli body tasked with coordinating Israeli policy in the occupied Palestinian territories – no ) denied us access to this area,” which is the main crossing point of humanitarian aid, spokesman Jens Laerke said at a briefing in Geneva.

“We’ve been told there will be no two-way transit of personnel or goods for the time being… For how long? I do not know. But this is the current situation,” he added.

“This has a considerable impact” on the population, because no aid can enter even through the Kerem Shalom crossing, targeted by rocket fire, the spokesman emphasized.

As for the Erez crossing, recently reopened by Israel, any aid that might pass through must be subject to the control of the Israeli authorities, said a spokesman for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), James Elder, in a another briefing.

The Israeli army sent tanks to Rafah on Tuesday and took control of the Palestinian side of the crossing with Egypt, saying it was conducting a “counter-terrorism” operation in “specific areas” east of Rafah.

The UN is all the more concerned about the fact that there are no important reserves in Gaza, since all the aid that entered the enclave until now was immediately distributed to the population.

Thus, the spokesman said, “there is only a very, very small reserve of fuel, of about one day”, explaining that since no fuel is introduced through the Rafah point, this reserve “is for the entire humanitarian operation ” in Gaza.

“It’s mainly diesel, to keep the trucks and generators running,” Laerke said.

If this fuel is blocked, “it would be a very effective way to bury the humanitarian operation”, added the spokesperson.

For her part, a spokeswoman for the World Health Organization (WHO), Margaret Harris, explained that there are no exceptions.

“The crossing point was closed yesterday (Monday – no) and there were no exceptions, no personnel entering or leaving, no evacuations, nothing. And I think it will be the same today, that is, there will be neither entrances nor exits,” she said.

Publisher: CLB

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