Humanitarian aid to North Gaza mostly blocked for last two months: UN
New Indian ExpressUNITED NATIONS: Humanitarian aid to North Gaza, where Israel launched a ground offensive on Oct. 6, has largely been blocked for the past 66 days, the United Nations said Tuesday. In the north, Israel has continued its siege on Beit Lahiya, Beit Hanoun and Jabaliya with Palestinians living there largely denied aid, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, known as OCHA, said. Sigrid Kaag, the senior U.N. humanitarian and reconstruction coordinator for Gaza, told reporters after briefing the U.N. Security Council behind closed doors Tuesday afternoon that civilians trying to survive in Gaza face an “utterly devastating situation.” She pointed to the breakdown in law and order and looting that has exacerbated a very dire situation and left the U.N. and many aid organizations unable to deliver food and other humanitarian essentials to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in need. Kaag said she and other U.N. officials keep repeatedly asking Israel for access for convoys to North Gaza and elsewhere, to allow in commercial goods, to reopen the Rafah crossing from Egypt in the south, and to approve dual-use items.