Saturday 31 / May / 2025
Gaza: The UN has issued more dire warnings about the desperate situation unfolding in Gaza as attempts to get aid to Palestinians continue.
"Gaza is the hungriest place on Earth," said Jens Laerke, spokesman for the UN humanitarian agency OCHA, as quoted by the AFP news agency.
"It's the only defined area — a country or defined territory within a country — where you have the entire population at risk of famine. 100% of the population at risk of famine," Laerke said, rejecting claims by Israeli authorities that it wasn't the case.
While the aid blockade has been partially eased in recent days, of the 900 truckloads of authorized aid, only 600 had been offloaded on the Gazan side.
"This limited number of truckloads that are coming in... it's a trickle," Laerke said, describing it as "drip-feeding food."
The spokesman said the mission to deliver aid was "in an operational straitjacket that makes it one of the most obstructed aid operations not only in the world today, but in recent history."
Tommaso Della Longa, a spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, also said that half of the organization's medical facilities in the area were out of action due to a lack of fuel or medical equipment.
French President Emmanuel Macron said that the collective position on Israel could toughen if there were no improvements to the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
"The humanitarian blockade is creating a situation that is untenable on the ground," Macron said during a joint press conference in Singapore with Prime Minister Lawrence Wong.
"And so, if there is no response that meets the humanitarian situation in the coming hours and days, obviously, we will have to toughen our collective position," Macron said, adding that sanctions against Israeli settlers may be up for consideration.
"But I still hope that the government of Israel will change its stance and that we will finally have a humanitarian response," the French leader said.
Macron reiterated his support for a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry later hit back at Macron an accused him of a "crusade against the Jewish state."
It said "Israel is currently facilitating aid entry into Gaza through two parallel efforts," referring to both the UN and the controversial US and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Fund.
