The murders of six Palestinian journalists in Gaza have been denounced by UN Secretary-General António Guterres.
A targeted Israeli strike in Gaza City on Sunday killed the reporters, five of whom were employed by the Al Jazeera television network.
This was said by UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric during a press conference in New York on Monday.
These most recent murders serve as a reminder of the grave dangers that journalists still confront when reporting on the war.
“An independent and unbiased investigation into these recent killings is demanded by the Secretary-General.”
At least 242 journalists have been killed in Gaza since the conflict started over three years ago, according to Dujarric.
“The Secretary-General underscores that journalists and media workers must be respected; they must be protected, and they must be allowed to carry out their work freely, free from fear and free from harassment,” he said.
On the aid front, the UN and its partners collected food and hygiene kits from the Kerem Shalom/Karem Abu Salem border crossing on Wednesday.
“However, supplies were offloaded directly from these trucks before reaching their destination, given the extreme desperation pervasive in Gaza today,” OCHA said.
The agency stressed that people there “need a predictable lifeline—not a trickle of aid—so they do not feel they need to take desperate measures to survive.”
WFP said that just to cover basic humanitarian food assistance needs, more than 62,000 metric tonnes are required to enter Gaza every month, and so far, humanitarians have not been permitted to bring in enough supplies to support the population.
Humanitarians also collected fuel from the Kerem Shalom crossing on Wednesday. Israel is allowing, on average, the entry of about 150,000 litres of fuel daily, which is still far below the minimum required. As a result, life-saving operations continue to be at risk.
The Palestine Civil Defence organisation has warned that more than half of its ambulances have stopped operating across Gaza due to the shortage of both fuel and spare parts.
“Israeli authorities must allow aid to enter through all crossings and via all available corridors so that humanitarians can deliver—at scale, in a safe and dignified manner – to reach the most vulnerable, including women, children, and older people,” OCHA said.
