Merve Aydogan
20 January 2025•Update: 20 January 2025
HAMILTON, Canada
The UN on Monday stressed the need for aid delivery to the Gaza Strip amid a recent ceasefire deal, noting that "more than 2 million people" depend on the "delivery of critical necessities."
"The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says that aid workers are ramping up the delivery of critical necessities, including food, shelter, clean water and other essential supplies. The entire population of Gaza, more than 2 million people, depends on these essentials," deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said at a news conference.
Noting that children constitute nearly half of Gaza’s population, Haq said many survive on a single meal a day.
"Our partners working on children's welfare say the provision of food, water and medical supplies are being prioritized," he said.
Citing the World Health Organization (WHO), Haq reported a "60-day plan to increase bed capacity across some hospitals in the north and south and to deploy professional health workers from abroad."
Asked about looting or lawlessness during the delivery of humanitarian aid, Haq described it as "so far so good."
"We don't have any significant problems of violence or looting to report," he said, adding that the situation is "a bit fluid" and the UN is doing its part to "get aid in."
A ceasefire and prisoner swap deal took effect in Gaza on Sunday, suspending Israel’s genocidal war on the enclave that has been ongoing since Oct. 7, 2023.
The three-phase agreement includes a prisoner exchange and sustained calm, aiming for a permanent truce and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.
Nearly 47,000 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and more than 110,700 injured in Israel’s onslaught, according to local health authorities.
The Israeli assault has left more than 11,000 people missing, with widespread destruction and a humanitarian crisis that has claimed the lives of many elderly people and children in one of the worst global humanitarian disasters ever.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants in November for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
