GAZA, (PIC)
The United Nations announced on Tuesday that it has suspended its aid operation in the Gaza Strip because of Israeli military evacuation orders in Deir al-Balah, which seriously hindered the delivery of humanitarian aid and vaccines for polio which broke out in the Strip for the first time in 25 years.
A senior UN official told Bloomberg Media that its humanitarian staff had been unable to operate on Monday because of safety concerns following evacuation orders in the town of Deir al-Balah, where the UN has its main operations center that sheltered thousands of the displaced as it was misleadingly declared a humanitarian safe zone by the Israeli occupation army.
The official stressed that although the United Nations has not issued formal suspension decisions, it is practically unable to deliver aid or continue its relief operations.
“While the United Nations has had to delay or stop deliveries for a few hours in the past, this is the first time that operations have come to a complete halt,” the official said.
The suspension of the humanitarian operations threatens to delay the UN-led vaccination campaign, which is scheduled to begin on August 31, according to the World Health Organization. The UN intends to distribute about one million doses of polio vaccine in Gaza, after a case of the virus was discovered in recent days.
In the same context, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) expressed deep concern about the Israeli forced eviction orders, noting that they include 15 facilities housing UN staff and activists in non-governmental organizations, as well as four UN warehouses, due to their location either in or near the area covered by the eviction order.
OCHA underscored that this decision will hinder the work of a full humanitarian center that was established in Deir al-Balah after the evacuation of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip last May.
