Salim Oweis, who works for UNICEF, has been in Gaza for about ten days.
One looks around and the scope of the humanitarian situation is truly terrifying, he says.
One sees people who had hoped to be able to return to their homes, but who come back to areas where most houses are destroyed and where there is neither water nor electricity.
"Of utmost importance"
Salim Oweis says that humanitarian aid shipments have come into Gaza more regularly during the ceasefire, compared to during the war, but still not enough to meet the acute need.
Therefore, it is of utmost importance that the aid shipments continue to come.
Otherwise, it can become very, very dramatic for the people and especially the children. Most people here are dependent on the aid shipments.
Salim Oweis says that it's not just about concrete necessities. Last week, a third round of polio vaccinations was completed. But without aid shipments, no more vaccines will come into Gaza either.
It's an additional life-threatening risk that the children are exposed to, he says.
"Delivering directly to people"
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently said, according to Times of Israel, that the terrorist organization Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, "seizes all goods and supplies that come into the Gaza Strip".
The aid that UNICEF brings in delivers directly to hospitals, to pumping stations, and to people, says Salim Oweis.
We have our controls and we deliver directly to the people who need it.
The first phase of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas expired on Saturday. According to the agreement's terms, hostilities should not resume while negotiations are ongoing about a second phase of the ceasefire.
While Israel temporarily wants to extend the first phase, Hamas insists that an agreement must be reached on a second phase instead. And it is because Hamas has not accepted the proposal to extend the first phase of the ceasefire that Israel has now decided to stop the delivery of humanitarian aid.
The Red Cross is also urging Israel and terrorist-designated Hamas to maintain the ceasefire in Gaza.
"The ceasefire agreement has saved countless lives and given hope in the midst of unimaginable suffering", the organization writes in a statement.
Tom Fletcher, head of the UN's disaster relief organization OCHA, writes on X:
"Israel's decision to stop the delivery of aid shipments to Gaza is alarming. International humanitarian law is clear: We must be allowed to deliver critical and life-saving aid."
