UN says casualties mount in Gaza, including at aid distribution points

Hostilities across Gaza are causing mass casualties, many from attacks apparently on people gathering for food aid at newly established militarized sites, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Monday.

The OCHA said the situation is worsening by the day, with its partners reporting scores of people killed and injured, apparently while gathering to receive supplies near militarized distribution centers in Rafah and Deir al-Balah.

"I am appalled by the reports of Palestinians killed and injured while seeking aid in Gaza yesterday (on Sunday). It is unacceptable that Palestinians are risking their lives for food," said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in a statement.

His spokesman Stephane Dujarric said later on Monday that the UN chief condemned Sunday's killing and maiming of Palestinians.

At least 31 people were killed and dozens of others seriously injured on Sunday morning when Israeli forces opened fire near a humanitarian aid distribution point in Rafah, southern Gaza, where residents were gathering to receive aid, according to the Gaza-based health authorities. Israel denied involvement in the killing.

Guterres called for an immediate and independent investigation into these events and for perpetrators to be held accountable.

Guterres said Israel has clear obligations under international humanitarian law to agree to and facilitate humanitarian aid. The unimpeded entry of assistance at scale to meet the enormous needs in Gaza must be restored immediately, he said, and the United Nations must be allowed to work in safety and security under conditions of full respect for humanitarian principles.

The OCHA said that in North Gaza, the Noura Al Kaabi Center for Dialysis was reportedly hit. The health authorities in Gaza reported that more than 40 percent of dialysis patients in Gaza have died since the escalation of the hostilities in October 2023 because the centers were either struck or have become unreachable.

The OCHA said that with the continuing hostilities, people have been forced to flee once again. On Saturday, Israeli authorities issued another displacement order in Khan Younis and Deir al-Balah, affecting about 100,000 people living in more than 200 displacement sites.

The office said two primary healthcare centers and five medical points are within the displacement area. Three hospitals, three field hospitals, seven primary healthcare centers and 20 medical points are located within a 1,000-meter radius of the facilities.

The OCHA said that since March 18 when a ceasefire collapsed, humanitarian partners estimate that more than 640,000 people, nearly a third of Gaza's entire population, have been displaced again across the strip.

"The latest displacement order also deprived at least 8,000 students of learning, as tens of functioning temporary learning spaces and a dozen public schools had to suspend their operations," the humanitarian office said. "These closures constitute a severe setback for children's education, limiting access to a safe and structured learning environment."

The OCHA said the world body and its humanitarian partners continue efforts to identify and treat malnutrition whenever possible and as dwindling supplies allow. Last week, they distributed nutritional supplements to approximately 40,000 children despite severe challenges and restrictions on humanitarian assistance.

The office said that as people endure deprivation, hunger and the absence of adequate food distribution, looting incidents continue to be reported. The vast majority are people taking flour directly from open trucks out of apparent desperation. However, humanitarian teams have reported more criminal looting. Israel requires aid delivery trucks to be open flatbeds for security reasons.

Guterres and UN partners have called for the complete lifting of the restrictions on aid and other essentials to ensure the needs of civilians in Gaza are met.

The OCHA said people in Gaza continue to suffer from frequent water shortages. A pipeline in Deir al-Balah, which supplied at least 12,000 cubic meters every day, is still not operational and humanitarians' attempts to carry out coordinated missions to repair it have been denied. On Monday, five missions to distribute potable water in the displacement camps in Jabaliya were also denied by Israeli authorities, it said.

Over the weekend, the UN and its partners reported bringing supplies from the Palestinian side of Kerem Shalom/Karem Abu Salem crossing into Gaza. More than 100 truckloads of food and medical supplies were picked up on Saturday and Sunday, bringing to more than 300 the number of truckloads picked up from the Gaza side of the crossing since it was reopened.

"One of our attempts to collect supplies from Kerem Shalom was denied," the OCHA said. "Another was still ongoing, awaiting a green light from Israeli authorities, a pause in the bombing along the route, and the allocation of a viable path."

The only border crossing from Israel into the strip was kept closed over the weekend because of an Israeli holiday, preventing the UN from bringing more supplies through it since Saturday.

The OCHA said that even when the crossing is open, severe restrictions on what humanitarians can bring in, both in terms of volume and variety, mean that the supplies entering Gaza are still a mere trickle and fall far short of what people need.