Israel blocked over half of planned aid to northern Gaza in July: UN

HAMILTON, Canada

The UN on Friday said that Israeli authorities blocked more than half of the 157 planned humanitarian aid deliveries to northern Gaza in July.

"OCHA says that out of 157 aid missions planned to northern Gaza last month, just 67 were facilitated by the Israeli authorities. The rest were either denied, impeded or canceled due to security, logistical or operational reasons," deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said during a news conference.

Emphasizing the continued impediments to humanitarian aid in Gaza, Haq stated that factors such as "hostilities, unexploded ordnance, damaged and impassable roads, attacks on aid convoys, a lack of public order and safety, the closure of the Rafah Crossing, and restrictions imposed by Israeli authorities on the entry of certain humanitarian supplies" continue to limit aid delivery and distribution across the Strip.

He further conveyed UN agencies' warning over "a high risk of the further spread of infectious diseases across the Gaza Strip, amid chronic water scarcity and no way to adequately manage waste and sewage."

Nearly 39,500 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 91,000 injured, according to local health authorities.

Almost 10 months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.