Ten countries urge Israel to immediately lift Gaza aid restrictions.
The foreign ministers of Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Japan, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom said in a joint statement, a copy of which was published on the British government website, that the humanitarian situation in Gaza has deteriorated again after a period of relative improvement and remains catastrophic.
The statement said that as winter approaches, civilians in Gaza are facing dire conditions, and heavy rains and falling temperatures have placed additional pressure on the affected population. The signatories stressed that 1.3 million people still need urgent shelter support, and more than half of health facilities are only partially operational and face a shortage of essential medical equipment and supplies.
The foreign ministers of the 10 countries went on to describe the complete collapse of health and sanitation infrastructure as one of the main pillars of the crisis, writing that this situation has exposed 740,000 people to “toxic and contaminated floods.”
The statement also referred to the new report of the Integrated Food Security Phase Assessment System, which said that although there are some signs of improvement since the extremely serious reports of the risk of famine in August, the situation remains disappointing. According to the report, a large part of the population of the Gaza Strip, 1.6 million people, is facing high levels of acute food insecurity.
The signatories stressed that while the amount of aid entering Gaza has increased since the ceasefire, the humanitarian response remains severely limited due to persistent obstacles to humanitarian access, and the scale of aid delivery is not being achieved.
In another part of the statement, the foreign ministers of these countries welcomed the important progress made to end the bloodshed in Gaza, secure the release of hostages (Israeli prisoners), and move beyond two horrific years of conflict. They also called for the immediate return of the remains of the “last hostage (Israeli prisoner) who died,” while calling on Hamas to disarm and abandon violence in accordance with the New York Declaration and UN Security Council Resolution 2803, which endorses the comprehensive plan to end the Gaza conflict.
However, the statement emphasizes that the focus of the signatories will not be diverted from the suffering of civilians in Gaza, and calls on the Israeli regime to take urgent and necessary measures.
The first demand in this context is to allow international NGOs to operate in Gaza sustainably and predictably. The statement notes that as the end of the year approaches, many long-standing partners of international organizations are at risk of deregistration because the Israeli government has imposed new restrictive requirements.
The signatories have warned that deregistration could lead to the forced closure of these organizations’ operations within 60 days in Gaza and the West Bank, and would have a severe impact on access to essential services, including treatment, such that if these organizations’ activities were to cease, one in three health centers in Gaza would close.