UN says access to Gaza’s Rafah crossing ‘denied’ by Israel

Israeli authorities have denied the UN access to the closed Rafah crossing, the main entry point for humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, the United Nations said on Tuesday.

The global agency’s humanitarian office spokesman Jens Laerke told journalists that Israel had shut both the Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings for aid and people as part of its so-called “limited scope” military operation in Rafah where around 1 million uprooted people are sheltering.

“We currently do not have any physical presence at the Rafah crossing as our access … has been denied by COGAT (Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories),” he said, referring to the Israeli agency that oversees supplies into the Palestinian territories.

“The two main arteries for getting aid into Gaza are currently choked off,” he said, adding that UN agencies had very low stocks inside the Gaza Strip since humanitarian supplies are consumed straight away. The enclave has just a one-day buffer of fuel stocks, he added.