‘Severe access challenges continue to prevent partners from being able to screen regularly enough to detect malnutrition cases that require treatment,’ says UN spokesperson

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said it had submitted 98 requests to the Israeli authorities for permission to cross the checkpoint along the Gaza Valley, but only 15 were granted, according to UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric.

'No statistics or words can fully convey the extent of the physical, mental and societal devastation that has taken place,' says acting under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs

According to the official website of the OCHA office, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric stated in a press conference that he found more than 55 valid evacuation orders covering more than 85% of the population of the Gaza Strip to date.

OCHA said that three schools sheltering internally displaced people were reportedly hit in the last 48 hours, resulting in mass casualties.

The amount of humanitarian aids entering the besieged Gaza Strip has reduced to one-third since the Israeli regime began its invasion against Rafah, a UN official reported.

​​​​​​​Speaking at the briefing on behalf of Martin Griffiths, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Wosornu stressed that the “living conditions continue to deteriorate as a result of heavy fighting, particularly in Jabalaia and eastern Rafah, as well as Israeli bombardment from air, land and sea.”

“Distribution is almost impossible with no regular fuel imports, unstable telecommunication and ongoing fighting” the UN agency said in a press briefing yesterday, warning that the disruption has a devastating impact for over two million people who have been displaced from their homes.

In a tweet on its X account, the UN office announced that two-thirds of the coordinated humanitarian missions in Gaza are facing obstacles or delays by Israeli occupation authorities. On average, it said, each mission encountered delays of at least five hours before being allowed to proceed.

OCHA reported that Al-Shifa hospital had been destroyed and deserted, says spokesperson Stephane Dujarric

It said that on 17 August, Israeli authorities demolished a donor-funded school serving students from the displaced herding community of Ein Samiya, near Ramallah. The school served 17 children, aged between six and 12, from the Ein Samiya community. In early May, members of the community, comprising 132 people, including 68 children, moved to areas ...

In addition to the Israeli army killings, an Israeli settler shot and killed a Palestinian man and injured two others during a settler attack in Burqa village, near Ramallah, on 4 August, which raises the number of Palestinians killed by settlers in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since the beginning of 2023 until 7 August to seven, said OCHA....

It said in its biweekly Protection of Civilians Report covering the period since 8 November that measured as a monthly average, 2022 is the deadliest year for Palestinians in the West Bank since the United Nations started systematically counting fatalities in 2005, with 129 Palestinians killed so far this year.