- UN team in Gaza waited hours for Israeli approval to access aid
Flour, medicine, nutrition supplies entered Gaza on Tuesday - Malnutrition rising and could get out of control, UNRWA says
UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said four trucks of baby food were dropped off on the Palestinian side of the border on Monday, and that a few dozen trucks of flour, medicine, nutrition supplies and other basic items entered Gaza on Tuesday.
"Israeli authorities are requiring us to offload supplies on the Palestinian side of Kerem Shalom crossing and reload them separately once they secure our team's access from inside the Gaza Strip," Dujarric told reporters.
"Today, one of our teams waited several hours for the Israeli green light to access the Kerem Shalom area and collect the nutrition supplies. Unfortunately, they were not able to bring those supplies into our warehouse," he said.
Earlier on Tuesday, a spokesperson for the UN humanitarian office in Geneva said Israel had given permission for about 100 aid trucks to enter Gaza.
UN aid chief Tom Fletcher said on Monday the initial amount of aid approved by Israel was "a drop in the ocean".
A U.S.-backed group plans to start work in the Gaza Strip by the end of May, overseeing a new model of aid distribution in the Palestinian enclave.
But the United Nations says the plan is not impartial or neutral, and it will not be involved.
Malnutrition rates in the densely populated territory have risen during the Israeli blockade and could worsen if food shortages continue, a health official at the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA said in Geneva on Tuesday.
"I have data until end of April and it shows malnutrition on the rise," said Akihiro Seita, UNRWA Director of Health. "And then the worry is that if the current food shortage continues, it will exponentially increase, and then get beyond our control."
