HAMILTON, Canada 

The UN on Tuesday warned that Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip continue to cause civilian casualties and destruction as humanitarian efforts face severe restrictions and access challenges.

Citing the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric reported that "Israeli military operations, including air strikes and shelling, continued across multiple areas, causing more civilian casualties, widespread displacement, and the destruction of critical infrastructure."

He said civilians "continue to bear the brunt of hostilities, destruction and mass displacement, with women and girls among those most at risk."

Noting that aid groups are struggling to reach those in need, he stated that "humanitarian partners face severe physical and bureaucratic obstacles that prevent the delivery of life-saving assistance at the scale required."

According to OCHA, "complex authorization and inspection procedures, limited clearance capacity at crossings, and unpredictable rejections of pre-cleared cargo by Israeli authorities continue to delay humanitarian movements and aid delivery."

He reported that Monday, “eight out of 20 missions coordinated by the UN with Israeli authorities were facilitated, including the collection of supplies from the Kerem Shalom crossing," while others were cancelled, denied or impeded.

"For a meaningful scale-up of humanitarian operations, additional crossing points must be opened, and restrictions on the entry and movement of humanitarian aid inside Gaza must be lifted without delay," he added.

The Israeli military has killed more than 67,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, in Gaza since October 2023. The relentless bombardment has rendered the enclave all but uninhabitable and has led to mass displacement, starvation, and the spread of disease.