UNRWA Health Director Says Gaza War Not Over Despite Ceasefire Deal

Tokyo, Nov. 7 (Jiji Press)–A senior official of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, or UNRWA, has said that the war in the Gaza Strip is “not over” despite a ceasefire deal between Islamic group Hamas and Israel. At a press conference on Thursday at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo, UNRWA Director of Health Akihiro Seita said that children are still struggling with malnutrition in Gaza even after the two sides reached an agreement over the first phase of a peace plan aimed at halting the conflict in Gaza. Although the ceasefire came into effect under the October agreement, Seita said 75,000 people are still living in about 100 evacuation shelters in Gaza. While supplies have gradually been brought into Gaza, Seita said that the prices of such items are so high that ordinary people cannot afford them. He also said that clean water, fuel and medicine supplies are “nowhere near enough.” Israel has passed a law to ban domestic activities by UNRWA, resulting in Seita and other international members of the agency not being able to enter Gaza from January this year. Seita said that he was “very frustrated” by the large amount of supplies piled up in neighboring Jordan, as the Israeli law meant that the agency had to rely on its partners to deliver goods into Gaza. He said he was “relieved” that the International Court of Justice issued an advisory opinion in October that Israel should not interfere with the relief efforts of international organizations such as UNRWA. Seita called on the Japanese government to continue funding the agency. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]