Gaza - New York: Europe and the Arabs
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs warned that ongoing hostilities, repeated evacuation orders, access barriers and other challenges in Gaza continue to hamper efforts to deliver life-saving aid to people. According to the UN daily news bulletin, the office quoted the World Food Programme as saying that it and other agencies are still unable to bring enough food into and around Gaza, that there are not enough border crossings, and that it is difficult to obtain permits for the movement of convoys within Gaza.
He added that there are often long delays at checkpoints, in addition to the lack of public order and safety that continues to hamper movement.
The World Food Programme said that it has lost more than 20 food distribution points due to the recent evacuation orders, and kitchens and bakeries have been forced to move to other locations.
The escalation of hostilities has rendered two warehouses currently unusable and parts of Salah al-Din Road, the main north-south route, have been cut off, limiting WFP’s ability to deliver aid across the Gaza Strip, he added.
As part of the humanitarian response following the latest evacuation order issued last week in Khan Younis, WFP is distributing one food parcel per family to support displaced people, reaching around 8,000 families so far.
With increasing needs and limited stocks, WFP said it was having to reduce rations to one parcel per family to ensure enough people have food to meet their basic needs. But it stressed that this is far from enough.
WFP reported that out of 18 bakeries in Gaza, only 12 are operational, including four in Gaza City, two in North Gaza and six in Deir al-Balah, adding that bakeries in the central areas have only enough fuel to operate for a few days.
Despite all these challenges, he stressed, he was able to reach nearly 1.2 million people with food, wheat flour or hot meals in the past month alone.
Water tank destroyed in Rafah
Meanwhile, OCHA said that humanitarian partners working on the water, sanitation and hygiene response in Gaza are concerned about the destruction of the Canada tank in Rafah.
He pointed out that the facility, which has a storage capacity of about 3,000 cubic meters of water, was bombed last week.
He warned that the destruction of the facility could hinder the return of residents to the Rafah area and force families to resort to drinking unsafe water, putting them at risk of dehydration, malnutrition and disease.
Back to Learning Programme
In another development, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) launched the Back to Learning Programme to help nearly one million out-of-school children adapt.
UNRWA said that in the first phase of the programme, it will focus on expanding ongoing psychosocial support activities, with a focus on arts, music and sports, and raising awareness of the dangers of unexploded ordnance.
In the second phase, the programme will include informal education activities, with literacy and mathematics lessons, according to UNRWA, which said it plans to provide formal education to children in Gaza as soon as the situation allows.

In a post on the X website, the UNRWA Commissioner-General said the programme was “a small contribution to helping children regain a part of their childhood that was stolen from them.”

He renewed his call for a ceasefire now for the children of Gaza and all children across the region.