Oxfam accuses Israel of ‘deliberately’ blocking aid to famine-stalked Gaza
Al Jazeera
Aid trucks are waiting an average of 20 days to access the enclave, the NGO says, as warnings of impending famine rise.
Israel is using bureaucracy to “deliberately” hinder aid supplies headed into Gaza, Oxfam has claimed.
The NGO’s assertion was made in a report titled: Inflicting Unprecedented Suffering and Destruction, which was released on Monday. It came amid a rise in international protest against the shortages of food, water and medicine in the besieged and battered Palestinian enclave, with one United Nations agency warning that famine will arrive by May at the latest.
Oxfam detailed the rejection of a warehouse full of international aid including oxygen, incubators, and water and sanitation gear. The NGO said this is “just one example of an overall humanitarian response that Israel has made so dangerous and dysfunctional as to be impossible for aid agencies to work at the speed and scale necessary to save lives, despite best efforts”.
It went on to state that Israel is “breaking one of the key provisions demanded by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) – to boost humanitarian aid in light of the risk of genocide in Gaza”.
“People living in Gaza will suffer mass death from disease and starvation far beyond the current 31,000 Palestinian war casualties unless Israel takes immediate steps to end its violations,” it adds.
