By Merve Aydogan
HAMILTON, Canada (AA) - The UN said on Friday that aid entry into the Gaza Strip remains heavily restricted by Israel despite a ceasefire, while only 13% of the cropland is undamaged but inaccessible.
Citing the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), UN spokesperson Farhan Haq said at a news conference that "despite significant progress on the humanitarian scale-up, people's urgent needs are still immense, with impediments not being lifted quickly enough since the ceasefire."
"As of this Monday, the UN and our partners have collected from Gaza's crossings more than 37,000 metric tons of aid, mostly food," he said, noting that "entry continues to be limited to only two crossings with no direct access from Israel to northern Gaza or from Egypt to southern Gaza."
"This is on top of certain items and NGO staff not being let in," he added.
Stressing that "most displaced people remain in overcrowded makeshift sites, many of which were established spontaneously in open or unsafe areas," Haq also reported that "local food production remains challenging."
"Only 13% of cropland in the Gaza Strip has not been damaged, and most of it remains inaccessible because it is located in areas where the Israeli military remains deployed," he said, citing a UN analysis that found "between 79 to 89% of greenhouse areas, agricultural wells and farming infrastructure have been damaged" and "nearly 89% of orchard trees, especially olive trees, have been damaged, or in most cases, destroyed."
Israel has killed close to 69,000 people, mostly women and children, and injured over 170,600 others in attacks in Gaza since October 2023.