The United Nations is urging Israel to open the Rafah border crossing to allow urgently needed aid into the Gaza Strip. This comes as 41 aid organizations, including Oxfam and the Norwegian Refugee Council, have published an open letter accusing Israel of “arbitrarily” rejecting aid deliveries into Gaza. The letter says, “Aid denied by Israeli authorities includes tents and tarpaulins, blankets, mattresses, food and nutrition supplies, hygiene kits, sanitation materials, assistive devices, and children’s clothing, all of which should be unrestricted during the ceasefire.” The World Food Programme warned it was falling short of its target of sending 2,000 tons of food into Gaza. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization described Gaza’s starvation crisis as “catastrophic.”
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus: “There is increase in amount after the ceasefire, but what is entering Gaza is significantly below the required target. Significantly below the required target. And that I also can explain the second — can be an answer to the second question: Is there a dent in hunger level? So, if the Gaza that — if the aid that’s entering Gaza is significantly low, it cannot dent the hunger level. And the situation still remains catastrophic, because what’s entering is not enough.”
In Israel, Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with senior Israeli army officials and held a news conference in Kiryat Gat, the site of a new international command center with troops from the U.S., U.K., Jordan and the UAE. Rubio said that the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, cannot have a role in the Gaza Strip; Rubio called it a “subsidiary of Hamas.” Since the U.S.-brokered ceasefire came into effect on October 10, Israel has killed nearly 100 Palestinians and wounded 230 in Gaza.
