INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Israel has taken significant steps in recent weeks on allowing aid into Gaza, the United States special envoy for humanitarian issues said
on Tuesday, but considerable work remained to be done as the risk of famine in the enclave is very high.David Satterfield declined to say
whether Washington was satisfied by Israel&s moves, weeks after United States President Joe Biden demanded action to alleviate the
humanitarian crisis in Gaza, saying conditions could be placed on United States support for close ally Israel if it did not implement a
series of &specific, concrete and measurable& steps.Israel has taken significant steps in these last two and a half weeks,& Satterfield told
&There is still considerable work to be done
But progress has been made.The risk of famine throughout war-devastated Gaza, especially in the north, is &very high&, he said, calling for
more to be done to get aid to those in need in that part of the tiny, densely populated Palestinian territory, Reuters reported.The United
Nations has long complained of obstacles to getting aid in and distributing it throughout Gaza in the six months since Israel began an
aerial and ground offensive against Gaza&s ruling Islamist militant group Hamas.Israel&s military campaign has reduced much of the territory
of 2.3 million people to a wasteland with an unfolding humanitarian disaster since October, when Hamas ignited war by storming into southern
Israel.The head of the U.N
Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, said on Tuesday that the daily average number of trucks entering Gaza during April
was 200 and that there had been a peak on Monday of 316.There was also now a focus on garbage collection, he added, especially in southern
Gaza, in a bid to avoid disease outbreaks as the warmer weather approaches.The post Famine risk ‘very high& in Gaza, especially in north,
US official says first appeared on Ariana News.
