NGOs demand that the border management of humanitarian aid for Gaza pass to the UN
Several NGOs today demanded that the management of border operations to control humanitarian aid entering Gaza be placed in the hands of the United Nations, and warned that it is a “harmful precedent” for future conflicts that an interested party, such as Israel, has veto capacity. An “impartial mechanism” is needed and the UN has experience in this, stressed Jesse Marks, Middle East expert at Refugees International, during an online press conference on the situation in Gaza, in which humanitarian organizations from around the world participated. , such as Amnesty International, Action Against Hunger or Save the Children.
“The process is not transparent for us,” lamented Isabelle Defourny, president of Doctors Without Borders (MSF) France, referring to the screening of the limited humanitarian assistance that can enter the Gaza Strip.
On behalf of Oxfam, Bushra Khalidi pointed out that humanitarian organizations have stopped counting trucks because it is “irrelevant”, since in no case will the incoming aid cover the needs of the Gazan population.
The massive spread of disease, malnutrition and overcrowding are just some of the pressing problems that humanitarian representatives mentioned, a situation that time and the destruction of civilian infrastructure only aggravates.
“Our colleagues are tired, they are hungry, they are homeless,” Khalidi also noted.
For all these reasons, they reiterated the call for a “permanent ceasefire”, recalling that the situation in hospitals is desperate and that, for example, children are having to be amputated without anesthesia.
“We need a ceasefire, but the minimum is the evacuation of the wounded to Egypt,” Defourny emphasized.
They also accused Israel of “war crimes” and of having continued, after the truce that was broken last week, with its disproportionate strategy and “collective punishment” of the Gazan population, with the pretext of ending the Islamist group Hamas. .
For Amnesty International, Amanda Klasing, director of that organization for relations with the US Government, demanded that Washington comply with its own law and impose an arms embargo on Israel for violating international law.