UNITED NATIONS, May 08 (APP): Israeli military manoeuvres and shelling continued in and around eastern Rafah in southern Gaza Wednesday as UN humanitarian officials stressed that “no fuel or aid” was getting into the enclave.
“We’re not receiving any aid, the crossing area has ongoing military operations and is an active war zone,” said Scott Anderson, from the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, in a post on X.
“We are hearing continued bombardments in this area throughout the day. No fuel or aid has entered into the Gaza Strip and this is disastrous for the humanitarian response.”
The development comes amid deepening international concerns including from the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres about a full-scale Israeli military operation in Rafah, fueled by the closure of Kerem Shalom and the seizure of Rafah crossing on Tuesday by Israeli forces, dashing ceasefire hopes.
In addition to concerns over dwindling supplies of fuel, food and other basic necessities in Gaza, UN humanitarians reported that tens of thousands of people in Rafah have been uprooted once more by Israeli evacuation orders.
“Every day we are displaced. Every hour we are displaced,” Rafah resident Salah Rajab Gazan was quoted as saying by UN News, a news website, inside the enclave.
“We expected that the deal would be reached and we’d go (back) to Gaza City. But what we expected did not happen and the opposite happened.”
In another interview, a former resident of Jabalia camp in northern Gaza described his exhaustion and loss, after seven months of war which had claimed the lives of his children. “I can’t find a mattress to sleep on; I used to have a house and floors. I am tired of life because there is no life in Gaza. Gaza has no future.”
In a bid to secure an end to the war and the release of all remaining Israeli hostages in Gaza, the UN chief issued a direct appeal to the Government of Israel late Tuesday “to stop any escalation and engage constructively in the ongoing diplomatic talks”.
Posting on X late on Tuesday, he said that “disturbed and distressed” by the Israeli Defence Forces’ renewed military activity in Rafah, just as he called on Hamas leaders and Israel “to show political courage” and secure a ceasefire.
After more than 34,000 Palestinians killed, mostly women an children, “haven’t we seen enough?” Guterres asked, at UN headquarters in New York.
