Gaza Strip: UN Demands More Humanitarian Access

On Monday, continued denials of access to humanitarian aid and work in Gaza warn of the need for accountability for what the UN sees as a violation of international law.

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After blocking a quarter of the humanitarian missions to the north of the enclave in April, the Israeli authorities denied entry for the second time in the last week to the UN refugee agency (Unrwa) commissioner general, Philippe Lazzarini.

This is in addition to ten other incidents recorded by Unrwa in recent days, involving shooting at convoys, arrests of UN staff, including harassment, stripping them naked, threats with weapons and long delays at checkpoints.

According to the commissioner general, these actions forced convoys to move during darkness or to abort.

These are frequent incidents as the Agency remains in a race against time to avert famine in Gaza.

In a recent statement, Unrwa called for an independent investigation along with accountability for the blatant disregard for humanitarian workers, operations and facilities.

In Lazzarini's own view, the current circumstances raise fears among humanitarians while setting a dangerous precedent that would compromise humanitarian work around the world.

"Since the beginning of the war, the United Nations, including Unrwa and other humanitarian personnel, facilities and operations, have been blatantly ignored," the representative said in a message posted on the social networking site X, formerly Twitter.

Denial of humanitarian access, he recalled, is a violation of humanitarian law.

Last week, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) denounced the continuing access constraints faced by UN workers on the ground to deliver vital supplies.

Among others, the agency cited denials of planned missions or prolonged delays at military checkpoints set up by Israel on the roads between northern and southern Gaza.

These affected a quarter of operations in April while 10 percent were denied, it confirmed.

"The UN and its humanitarian partners continue our efforts to expand aid operations wherever possible," said the UN secretary-general's spokesman, Stephane Dujarric.

During the current round of hostilities, UNRWA reached hundreds of thousands of Gazan households with essential aid despite violence, Israeli checkpoints and lack of funding.

However, this assistance is far from sufficient to alleviate the humanitarian crisis that has gripped the Palestinian territory since 7 October.