Despite Drawdown, UN Affirms: “We Will Not Leave Gaza”
United Nations reduces international operations in Gaza following deadly Israeli shelling, citing humanitarian access restrictions and ongoing military actions.
Watan-The United Nations announced it will “scale down its presence” in the Gaza Strip after an Israeli tank struck one of its compounds last week, killing one staff member and injuring five others. The shelling, which took place on March 19, targeted the UN guesthouse in central Gaza.
The spokesperson for UN Secretary-General António Guterres, Stéphane Dujarric, said in a statement released Monday that “based on the information currently available,” the strike on the site “was by an Israeli tank.” He added that the UN had “made the difficult decision to reduce its presence in Gaza, even as humanitarian needs continue to increase.” He stressed that the UN “is not leaving Gaza,” but did not provide details on how the decision would affect operations.
Dujarric also mentioned that Israel has not allowed humanitarian aid to enter since the beginning of March. He added that this is one of the reasons that forced the UN Secretary-General to decide to scale back the UN’s presence in Gaza. He said there are currently around 100 international UN staff in the enclave, and 30 of them will be leaving.
He confirmed that Israeli officials intend to continue their “military activities” in Gaza, noting that the March 19 strike that killed UN personnel has been confirmed to have been carried out by Israel.
UN Operations Strained as Aid Blocked and Rumors Denied
In response to a question about why UN operations in Gaza are being affected, Dujarric explained that the continued Israeli attacks have displaced more civilians, blocked the entry of humanitarian aid, and impacted operations. He stressed that local staff are carrying out the majority of UN activities in the Strip.
Regarding which UN agencies will be affected by the reduced presence, Dujarric said that among those impacted are the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the World Food Programme (WFP), and UNICEF.
Separately, the Government Media Office in Gaza denied that foreign medical teams were being evacuated from the Strip. In a statement on Monday evening, it said: “Some activists and amateurs are spreading rumors and claims that the occupation informed all foreign medical teams to immediately leave Gaza. After direct contact with both medical and non-medical international institutions, we confirm definitively that this information is false and that it is nothing but a rumor.”
The statement urged “activists and media professionals to be accurate and responsible when reporting news and information, and to verify sources before circulating or publishing, to avoid spreading rumors that may serve the occupation’s agenda and create confusion in the humanitarian situation in the Strip.”
