Humanitarian aid entering the Gaza Strip remains far below the levels required to meet the daily needs of the suffering population, an official from United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said.
With severe shortages of food, clean water, and shelter, families are struggling to observe Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting.
In an online interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN), Salim Oweis, the communications officer of UNICEF's Middle East and North Africa Regional Office, said that although improvement has been made, the overall humanitarian situation remains dire.
"This is my first time after the ceasefire, and I'm seeing little change for families. While we can see that more commodities are in the market and a little bit of more aid is going in. Our ability to deliver the last mile to the people themselves is increasing, but still, that's not what is needed, just part of it. It's just a portion of it," said Oweis.
He said children and families continue to struggle to meet basic daily needs, including access to water, food and shelter, adding that improvements at the political level have yet to translate into tangible changes on the ground.
Oweis underscored the urgent need to increase humanitarian assistance, noting that the long period of conflict has left deep humanitarian challenges that will take time to resolve.
"The ceasefire has brought some hope, but it's not enough. We're talking about the volume of aid coming in. We're talking about the kind of aid coming in. Also, the commercial goods market might be more stocked now than ever, but it's still far away from the reach of so many families because it's highly priced. And to just balance that, we need more aid in for those families that are completely reliant on aid. But also we need commercial goods to come in to kind of stabilize the market and make it more affordable. So that's on the aid and the commodities," he said.
"But also, we're talking about almost two and a half years right now of continued bombardment and continued violence and just the few months of a fragile ceasefire is not yet enough to deal with all the needs and all the challenges, including, as I say, shelter, safety and overall wellbeing of children and families," Oweis said.
Aid entering Gaza falls far short of daily needs: UNICEF official
