'Every delay costs lives,' UN warns as Israel continues to impede aid access to Gaza

The UN on Thursday warned that Israeli restrictions are severely obstructing humanitarian operations in the Gaza Strip.

Citing the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric reported at a news conference that "nearly 1 million people are estimated to be in Gaza City are facing daily bombardments and struggling to access the means for survival after the Israeli military placed the entire city under displacement orders."

Saying that Israeli attacks "on famine-stricken Gaza City" are forcing people "once again" to flee with no safe place to go, Dujarric noted that UN partners "monitoring the movement of people in Gaza said that between Sunday and yesterday, more than 25,000 displacements were recorded."

Dujarric said that "some critical services have already been suspended in Gaza City as aid workers struggled to save lives," and humanitarian access inside the enclave continues to face severe delays.

Highlighting that "missions still take long hours to complete-even when they are approved in advance by the Israeli authorities," he said that "teams have no choice but to wait on roads that are often dangerous or congested."

"Recently, OCHA has also observed an increase in denials of the participation of Palestinian staff in missions. This includes both drivers and program personnel," he said, adding that Israeli denials are usually "communicated at the last minute, resulting in operational delays."

"What we need is full facilitation of the work and movement of humanitarian actors into and throughout the Gaza Strip. This must include unimpeded access to the north and to the south alike. Every delay costs lives," he said.