OCHA: Israel rejected 22 requests to deliver aid to northern Gaza

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) revealed on Wednesday that the Israeli authorities rejected 22 requests submitted last month to open the checkpoints set up in the Gaza Valley in order to deliver humanitarian aid to the northern Gaza Strip.

The office said in a statement, “It is necessary to act early due to the severe traffic congestion around the warehouses and the high level of humanitarian needs.” He confirmed that last January he submitted 22 requests to Israel to open checkpoints in order to quickly reach the Gaza Valley, stressing that he did not receive any response regarding those requests.

In its response to the framework agreement reached at an American-Israeli-Egyptian-Qatari meeting in Paris last week, the Hamas movement demanded “intensifying the introduction of the quantities necessary and sufficient for the needs of the population” in the first phase of the agreement.

It stressed that "the volume of aid must not be less than 500 trucks per day of humanitarian aid, fuel, and the like, as well as allowing appropriate quantities of humanitarian aid to reach all areas of the Gaza Strip, especially the northern Gaza Strip."

On Monday, United Nations spokesman Stephane Dujarric said that Israel continues to obstruct the arrival of most aid to the northern Gaza Strip, noting that only 10 aid operations reached the northern Gaza Strip out of 61 operations last January.

After its occupation, the Israeli army divided the Gaza Strip into three sections, and placed checkpoints at the divided points, through which passage, including humanitarian aid, is not permitted without Israeli permission.

The United Nations previously warned that 2.2 million people were at risk of starvation in the Gaza Strip, which is under intense attack by Israel.

For days, Israeli far-right protesters have closed the Kerem Shalom crossing, to prevent trucks loaded with humanitarian aid from entering the Gaza Strip until the Israeli prisoners held by the Palestinian resistance are released.

Israel imposed a stifling embargo on the Gaza Strip, including preventing the entry of fuel, food and medicine, which exacerbated the humanitarian situation in light of the ongoing Israeli war since October 7.