New York - Saba:
The Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, stated on Friday that airdropping aid into the Gaza Strip is the most expensive and least effective method of delivering assistance.
He argued that it distracts from the failure to open land crossings.
In press remarks, Lazzarini pointed out that around 6,000 trucks loaded with food and medical supplies are stuck in Egypt and Jordan, waiting for permission to enter Gaza.
The UN official criticized the aid distribution system known as the "Gaza Humanitarian Facility," describing it as a flawed system that serves military and political objectives and costs more lives than it saves.
The Gaza Strip is enduring one of the worst humanitarian crises in its history, with severe famine intertwined with a genocidal campaign waged by the Israeli occupation since October 7, 2023.
Despite international, UN, and Palestinian warnings about the repercussions of famine in Gaza, Israeli forces continue to completely shut down the Strip's crossings to humanitarian, relief, and medical aid since March 2, escalating their policy of starvation imposed since the start of the war.
With the total closure of crossings and the prevention of food and medicine entry, famine has spread across Gaza, and symptoms of acute malnutrition have appeared among children and the sick.
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