UN agency for Palestinians barred from N. Gaza aid deliveries

Palestinian Territories – AFP

The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees has said that Israel has definitively barred it from making aid deliveries in northern Gaza, where the threat of famine is highest.

“Despite the tragedy unfolding under our watch, the Israeli Authorities informed the UN that they will no longer approve any @UNRWA food convoys to the north,” Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the agency, said Sunday on X.

“This is outrageous & makes it intentional to obstruct lifesaving assistance during a man made famine.”

Israel fired back, saying on Monday that UNRWA “has long forsaken its role in facilitating aid to northern Gaza. While we’ve been working with aid orgs and other UN agencies to facilitate large amounts of aid to the north.”

COGAT, the Israeli defence ministry body responsible for Palestinian civilian affairs, said Israel “goes to great lengths to facilitate aid to northern Gaza, including by opening a new crossing in northern Gaza”.

UNRWA director of communications Juliette Touma told AFP the decision not to approve deliveries to the north had been relayed in a meeting with Israeli military officials on Sunday.

It followed two denials in writing for convoy deliveries to the north last week. No reason for the decision was given, Touma said.

– ‘Decision must be revoked’ –

Gaza faces dire humanitarian conditions as a result of Israel’s war against Palestinians that it began nearly six months ago.

Last week a UN-backed food security assessment warned that famine was projected to hit the north of Gaza by May unless there was urgent intervention.

UNRWA has not been able to deliver food to the north since January 29, Touma said.

“The latest decision is another nail in the coffin” for efforts to get desperately needed aid to Gazans reeling from war, Touma said.

Martin Griffiths, head of the UN humanitarian coordination office, said on X on Sunday that UNRWA “is the beating heart of the humanitarian response in Gaza”.

“The decision to block its food convoys to the north only pushes thousands closer to famine. It must be revoked,” he added.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, head of the World Health Organization, said on X that blocking UNRWA aid deliveries was “in fact denying starving people the ability to survive”.

Israel has accused UNRWA staff members of participating in the October 7 attack by Hamas and called the agency “a front for Hamas”.

Touma said Israeli authorities on Sunday also rejected a UN request to send a team to Al-Shifa hospital in northern Gaza, which it has besieged for a week, “to evacuate people who are injured”.

Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 32,226 people, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in the territory.

The October 7 attack resulted in the deaths of about 1,160 people, according to an AFP tally of Israeli figures.