UN suspends aid movements at night in Gaza

Michelle Nichols
·1 min read
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A truck carrying aid enters Gaza via Kerem Shalom crossing, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip

By Michelle Nichols

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations has suspended movements at night in Gaza for at least 48 hours to evaluate security issues following the killing of staff working for the World Central Kitchen food charity, U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Wednesday.

He said the suspension started on Tuesday. The World Food Programme is continuing operations during the day, including daily efforts to send convoys to the north of Gaza "where people are dying," Dujarric said.

"As famine closes in we need humanitarian staff and supplies to be able to move freely and safely across the Gaza Strip," he told reporters.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel mistakenly killed seven people working for World Central Kitchen in a Gaza airstrike on Monday, prompting condemnations and calls for explanations from the United States and other allies

The U.N. has long complained of obstacles to getting aid in and distributing it throughout Gaza.

The U.N. has repeatedly called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the six-month long war between Israel and Hamas. Israel is retaliating against Hamas in Gaza over a deadly Oct. 7 attack on Israel by the Palestinian militants.

(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; editing by Kanishka Singh, Alexandra Hudson)