UN allocates $9m to keep life-saving services running in Gaza

With preliminary peace talks underway in Egypt, Israeli airstrikes in Gaza have decreased, though deadly shelling and gunfire continue, United Nations humanitarians said Monday.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said Gaza's health authorities reported 21 deaths and 96 wounded on Sunday.

Humanitarian access and movement across Gaza remain challenging. Eight missions that required coordination with the Israeli authorities were facilitated, including the installation of a solar panel in Deir al-Balah, as well as the collection of fuel, food and health supplies from the Kerem Shalom/Karem Abu Salem border crossing. Six other missions were denied, and five were canceled, said OCHA.

Despite the continuing violence, limited supplies and restricted aid access, humanitarians continue to do whatever they can to meet people's urgent needs across the Gaza Strip, it said.

UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher allocated $9 million from the UN's Central Emergency Response Fund to ensure fuel supplies to keep life-saving services running in the Gaza Strip.

On Saturday, humanitarian partners prepared and distributed 885,000 meals through 167 kitchens across Gaza. However, only 12 kitchens are operating in the north. Aid workers are doing everything possible to serve large numbers of people moving from the north to the south.

OCHA reported that displacement sites in southern Gaza remain severely overcrowded, forcing some families to seek shelter at garbage dumping sites such as Al Amal, where about 70 tents have been set up in recent days. Others are attempting to return north, despite Gaza City being declared a dangerous combat zone.

The office said it is ready to deliver large-scale aid as soon as conditions permit.

"We've been ready, and the machinery is cranked up and ready to go as soon as we get the green light," Stephane Dujarric, chief spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said of the Gaza relief pipeline that runs through Cyprus and the port of Ashdod. "There are thousands of metric tonnes in the pipeline of goods ready to enter (Gaza) ... As soon as the crossings become open, we're ready to move those trucks." 

(With input from Xinhua)