ＵＮＲＷＡ、主要検問所からのガザ支援物資搬入を停止

【ケレムシャロームＡＦＰ＝時事】国連パレスチナ難民救済事業機関（ＵＮＲＷＡ）のフィリップ・ラザリニ事務局長は１日、パレスチナ自治区ガザ地区とイスラエルの境界にあるケレムシャローム検問所経由のガザ向け支援物資の搬入について、安全上の懸念から停止したと発表した。（写真は、ガザ地区中部のデイルアルバラフにある国連パレスチナ難民救済事業機関〈ＵＮＲＷＡ〉の援助物資配給センターで、小麦粉の袋を配るボランティア〈資料写真〉）
　ラザリニ氏はＸ（旧ツイッター）への投稿で「この検問所経由の道路は数か月間、安全ではない状態が続いている。１１月１６日には支援物資を積んだトラックの大規模な車列が武装集団に奪われた」「きのう、同じルートで数台のトラックが食料を搬入しようとしたが、すべて奪われた」と投稿。ガザでは飢餓が「急速に深刻化している」にもかかわらず、「人道的支援活動が理不尽なほどに困難になっている」と警告した。
　子どもの権利保護団体、セーブ・ザ・チルドレンの人道支援責任者アレクサンドラ・サイエ氏は「ケレムシャロームを通じて援助物資が入らなければ、壊滅的な状況が続くだろう」と指摘。
　「国境なき医師団（ＭＳＦ）」のクレア・ニコレット氏もＡＦＰに対し、「食料や物資の供給における支援の要」だったＵＮＲＷＡによる今回の発表は「最後の決定的な一撃」だと述べた。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2024/12/02-17:03）

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees has halted the delivery of aid through the key Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and Gaza because of safety fears, its chief said Sunday.
The road out of this crossing has not been safe for months. On 16 November, a large convoy of aid trucks was stolen by armed gangs, UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini posted on X.
Yesterday, we tried to bring in a few food trucks on the same route. They were all taken, he added, warning hunger was rapidly deepening in Gaza.
The humanitarian operation has become unnecessarily impossible, he said.
The United Nations said Friday that Gaza has descended into anarchy, with hunger soaring, looting rampant and rising numbers of rapes in shelters as public order falls apart.
Israel, which imposed a total siege of the Hamas-ruled territory after the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks, blames says thayt relief organisations cannot distribute large quantities of aid.
Only 7 percent of the aid that came into the Gaza Strip in November was coordinated by UNRWA, the Israeli defence ministry agency responsible for civilian affairs in the Palestinian territories, COGAT, said on X.
There are dozens of humanitarian organisations operating in the Gaza Strip that continue to take a growing role in delivering humanitarian aid, it added.
During a press visit Thursday, the Israeli army showed aid shipments at the crossing and said they wait at the Gaza side of Kerem Shalom for months.
- Ceasefire calls -
Lazzarini also said Israel must refrain from attacks on humanitarian workers.
His demand follows an Israeli strike Saturday that killed three contractors of the US charity World Central Kitchen, including one who Israel's military said was involved in October 7.
Save the Children later said a strike killed one of its staff members, the second employee to be killed since the war began last October.
Alexandra Saieh, head of humanitarian policy and advocacy for Save the Children, echoed Lazzarini's demands. We must see aid flow into Gaza safely and end to attacks on humanitarian workers, she said.
The UN last month said 333 aid workers had been killed since the war began, including 243 UNRWA employees.
Lazzarini reiterated his call for a ceasefire that would also secure the delivery of safe and uninterrupted aid to people in need.
A summit of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) leaders urged an immediate and permanent cessation of Israeli fire and military operations as well as the delivery of all humanitarian and relief aid and basic needs to the residents of Gaza.
German deputy foreign minister Tobias Linder also said Israel had no excuse for hampering aid delivery to Gaza before a conference in Cairo on the subject Monday.
- 'Catastrophic' -
If aid supplies cannot come in through Kerem Shalom,... it will continue to be catastrophic for people, Save the Children's Saieh said.
She pointed to the south and central areas where there are already rising levels of hunger, the risk of famine is getting worse by the day, and the onset of winter will bring with it the risk of more illness and disease.
Claire Nicolet, head of mission for Doctors Without Borders, told AFP the situation was catastrophic and that UNRWA's announcement was the straw that broke the camel's back because the agency was the backbone of aid for the supply of food and equipment.
The Hamas attack in 2023 resulted in the deaths of 1,207 people in Israel, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
At least 44,429 Palestinians, a majority of them civilians, have been killed in Israel's military campaign in the Gaza Strip since the war began, according to data provided by the health ministry in the territory.
The UN has acknowledged these figures to be reliable.