Israel allowed less than one-third of humanitarian aid into Gaza in December: UN

HAMILTON, Canada

The UN on Wednesday reported that Israel has facilitated less than one-third of planned humanitarian aid operations into the Gaza Strip in December.

Citing the Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters that Israeli authorities continue to deny UN aid operations to besieged parts of northern Gaza, including Beit Hanoun, Beit Lahiya and areas of Jabalya.

Saying that most UN requests have been "denied outright" by Israel since its siege began 10 weeks ago, Dujarric said, "Across the strip, humanitarians continue to face severe access constraints as they try to reach huge numbers of people in need of food, water, shelter, essential and other essentials for them to survive."

"Throughout Gaza, we planned 339 aid movements that required coordination with the Israeli authorities between 1 and 16 December. They facilitated less than a third of those movements," he said.

He noted that "out of 96 such humanitarian movements planned for the first half of December, just 16 were facilitated by the Israeli authorities."

Dujarric announced that, according to a decision by the UN General Assembly, a "high-level international conference on the peaceful resolution of the Palestinian Issue and the two-state solution" would be held in June, co-chaired by Saudi Arabia and France.

He said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is also expected to attend the conference, and "the entire region needs urgent and irreversible action to enable the parties to re-engage on the long-delayed political path towards ending the occupation and resolving the conflict."

He emphasized that it must take place in line with international law, relevant UN resolutions and bilateral agreements, in accordance with the vision of two states -- Israel and Palestine.

On Dec. 4, the UN General Assembly agreed to take action to achieve a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict and to organize a high-level conference to implement resolutions and build lasting, just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East.