“A traumatized and exhausted population” is being “crammed into a smaller and smaller sliver of land,” UN emergency relief chief Martin Griffiths

1.9 million Gazans, or 85% of the enclave’s population, have been internally displaced since the start of Israel’s retaliation following Hamas’ deadly terror attacks in southern Israel on 7 October.

Despite a UN Security Council resolution adopted last week calling for a scale-up in aid deliveries access to people in need has remained overwhelmingly insufficient with only 76 trucks entering Gaza from Egypt through the Rafah crossing on Thursday.

In Orkney, campaigners will again be out on the steps of St Magnus Cathedral on Saturday 30th December between 1 and 2pm.

Last week, humanitarians warned that more than one in four households in Gaza were enduring “catastrophic” hunger. The risk of famine occurring in the Strip within the next six months was confirmed by the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report, which showed that the entire population of Gaza, some 2.2 million people, is living with “crisis or worse” levels of acute food insecurity. 

UN humanitarian affairs coordination office OCHA cited reports from Gaza’s health authorities that half of all the pregnant women seeking safety in shelters in the Strip suffer from thirst, malnutrition and a lack of health care, there is a lack of vaccinations for newborns and one in every two displaced children faces dehydration, malnutrition and disease.

A senior UN official has warned of the risk of a spill over of the conflict with “devastating consequences” for the entire region.

Earlier this month, Tor Wennesland, the UN Special Envoy for the Middle East Peace Process, voiced “deep concerns” over escalating tensions in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

Briefing the Security Council on 19 December, he noted “intensified armed exchanges” between Palestinians and Israeli security forces, predominantly in the context of Israeli operations, which led to exceedingly high levels of fatalities and arrests.

Mr. Wennesland also expressed alarm at lethal attacks carried out by Israeli settlers against Palestinians and by Palestinians against Israelis in the occupied West Bank and Israel.