Aid distribution to Gaza largely halted
Israeli warplanes and tanks pounded southern Gaza overnight and yesterday and the UN said aid distribution to Palestinians facing hunger had largely stopped because of the intensity of fighting.
A World Health Organization official warned that only 11, or less than a third, of Gaza's hospitals remain partially functional and pleaded for them to remain intact.
"In just 66 days the health system has gone from 36 functional hospitals to 11 partially functional hospitals - one in the north and 10 in the south," Richard Peeperkorn, WHO representative for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, told a UN press briefing by videolink from Gaza.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he was concerned about the prolonged checks of medical supply convoys in the Gaza Strip and the detention of health workers after such an incident led to the death of a patient in critical condition.
The UN humanitarian office (OCHA) said limited aid distributions were taking place in the Rafah district, but "in the rest of the Gaza Strip, aid distribution has largely stopped over the past few days, due to the intensity of hostilities and restrictions of movement along the main roads".
Aid flows were also restricted by a shortage of trucks in Gaza, a continuing lack of fuel, communications blackouts, and growing numbers of staff unable to travel to the Rafah crossing with Egypt because of the intensity of hostilities, it said.
Fighting raged yesterday, with Hamas saying clashes had taken place in central Gaza and witnesses reporting deadly Israeli strikes in the south of the territory, reports Reuters.
Israeli air strikes killed at least 22 people in the southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt, where tens of thousands of people are seeking shelter, official Palestinian news agency Wafa said.
Since the October 7, Israel's assault has killed at least 18,412 people and wounded nearly 50,000, according to the Gaza health ministry.
The ministry also said Israeli forces raided Kamal Adwan hospital in the north of the Palestinian territory. The UN General Assembly was due to vote later yesterday on a non-binding resolution demanding "an immediate humanitarian ceasefire" in Gaza -- a call that the Security Council has so far failed to make.
In occupied West Bank, Israeli forces killed four Palestinians in the city of Jenin yesterday. The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said they were killed in a drone strike on the Old City.
Meanwhile, Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis said they carried out a military operation against the Norwegian commercial tanker STRINDA in its latest operation to protest against Israel's bombardment of Gaza.
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