UNITED
NATIONS, May 20 (Reuters) - Food and medicine for Palestinians in Gaza
are piling up in Egypt because the Rafah crossing remains closed and
there has been no aid delivered to a U.N. warehouse from a U.S.-built
pier for two days, U.N. officials warned on Monday.
Senior
U.N. aid official Edem Wosornu said there were insufficient supplies
and fuel to provide any meaningful level of support to the people of
Gaza as they endure Israel's military onslaught against Hamas militants.
"We
are running out of words to describe what is happening in Gaza. We have
described it as a catastrophe, a nightmare, as hell on earth. It is all
of these, and worse," she said.
She
told the U.N. Security Council that the closure of Rafah crossing from
Egypt had stopped the delivery of at least 82,000 metric tonnes of
supplies, while access at Israel's Kerem Shalom crossing was limited due
to "hostilities, challenging logistical conditions, and complex
coordination procedures."
Egypt said on Monday that the crossing is closed due to the threat posed to aid work by Israel's military operation.
Israel
is retaliating against Hamas in Gaza - an enclave of 2.3 million people
- over a brutal Oct. 7 attack by the Palestinian militants. Aid access
into southern Gaza has been disrupted since Israel stepped up military operations in Rafah, a move that the U.N. says has forced 900,000 people to flee.
Israel's
U.N. Ambassador Gilad Erdan told the Security Council that Israel had
not other choice but to go after Hamas in Rafah and that the removal of
civilians from an active war zone should be supported and not condemned.
"They
have moved to a designated humanitarian zone that is being filled with
aid. And our hope is for many more civilians to leave Rafah and move out
of harm's way," he said. "Temporary evacuation is reversible, but the
loss of life is not."
However, Wosornu described the situation for Palestinians at the new sites as horrendous.
In
northern Gaza, where the U.N. warns a famine is imminent, Wosornu said
the Erez crossing had been closed since May 9 and the newly-opened Erez
West crossing "is now being used for limited quantities of aid, but now
areas in the vicinity of this crossing are also under evacuation orders"
by Israel.