OCHA says attacks on hospitals in northern Gaza having a devastating impact on civilians

Meanwhile, the Israeli siege on Beit Hanoun, Beit Lahia and parts of Jabalya in northern Gaza continues for a 79th straight day. The UN and our partners have been pushing to access the area on a daily basis in order to provide life-saving support to thousands of people who remain there in dire conditions, said the statement.
However, so far in December, the Israeli authorities have rejected 48 of 52 UN attempts to coordinate humanitarian access to besieged areas of the north. Although four humanitarian movements were initially approved, they faced impediments, said OCHA.
Since the intensification of Israeli military operations in North Gaza on 6 October 2024, none of the UN-coordinated attempts to access the area have been fully facilitated, it added.
The statement noted that across the Gaza Strip, just 40 percent of requests for humanitarian movements requiring coordination with the Israeli authorities have been facilitated this month.
Meanwhile, new estimates by the UN and our partners suggest that at least 5,000 households were staying in an area of eastern Gaza City that was subject to a new Israeli evacuation order yesterday. In the wake of that directive, a few hundred families were observed moving west. Overall, some 80 percent of the Gaza Strip's territory is under active evacuation orders, said OCHA.
In central and southern Gaza, a new assessment by partners working to mitigate hunger in Gaza found that during the first half of December, bread and pulses dominated households’ diets for the third month in a row, with other types of food mostly absent, it added.
They reported that 90 percent of families experienced a further reduction in access to food compared to November, amid reduced availability and skyrocketing prices, added the UN body.