The UN said Thursday that funding shortfalls are forcing humanitarian partners in the Gaza Strip to reduce or suspend critical services, warning that aid operations are becoming increasingly difficult as needs remain immense, Anadolu reports.
Citing the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric warned at a news conference that “funding shortfalls are forcing humanitarian partners in Gaza to scale down or suspend critical services.”
He said that nearly halfway through the year, “the $4.1 billion requirement identified in the annual appeal for Gaza and the West Bank remains less than 15% funded.”
“As a result, humanitarian partners’ ability to plan, pre-position relief and respond effectively is weakening at a time when most of Gaza’s 2.1 million people remain displaced and heavily rely on our services,” added Dujarric.
He cited growing concerns about access to drinking water, saying that by the end of May, four humanitarian partners had begun phasing out water trucking operations, putting “more than 330,000 people across some 250 sites at risk of losing their primary source of drinking water.”
