HAMILTON (Canada), March 4 (Bernama-Anadolu) -- The United Nations (UN) on Monday reported the closure of Kerem Shalom, Erez, and Zikim crossings for cargo, leading to a more than 100-fold increase in food prices across the Gaza Strip, Anadolu Ajansi reported.
"Our humanitarian partners tell us that following the closure of the crossings into Gaza yesterday, flour and vegetable prices increased more than 100-fold," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said during a news conference.
Dujarric stated that “more than 100 public schools have reopened" across the Strip, "accommodating some 100,000 students.”
He also stressed that “so much has been achieved since the ceasefire” in terms of aid flow, the opening of schools, the delivery of tents, and hostage and prisoner releases.
"There's been so much achievement. Let's keep going," he affirmed.
Asked about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's recent remarks claiming that the reason for stopping the aid was due to Hamas selling it, Dujarric said: "None of that has been reported back here by our colleagues on the ground."
"We have seen since the ceasefire a much freer and more direct flow of aid, and we have not seen any of the looting that we had seen prior to the ceasefire," he added.
More than 48,300 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and over 111,000 others have been injured in a brutal Israeli war on Gaza since October 2023. The onslaught, which left the enclave in ruins, was paused under a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement that took hold on Jan 19.
Israel, however, halted the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza on Sunday, hours after the expiry of the first phase of the ceasefire agreement.
Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
-- BERNAMA-ANADOLU
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