Amid increasing international pressure, Israel permitted a limited flow of humanitarian supplies into Gaza this week, leaving the United Nations in an “impossible position,” as reported by officials.
Efforts to deliver the scant amount of aid posed significant dangers for UN workers, yet would hardly address the vast “ocean” of need.
The threat of looting was heightened, alongside the potential for harm to aid workers, as Israel intensified its military operations in the region.
Moreover, UN officials acknowledged another serious concern: the perception of participating in a mere propaganda effort, which increased as aid sat for several days in the inspection area at the crossing point.
Once the first deliveries finally departed from the Kerem Shalom crossing point, reports surfaced that several trucks carrying flour were intercepted by local residents, who took the contents.
“From what I understand, this wasn’t a criminal act involving armed individuals,” Mr. Dujarric informed journalists.
“It was a phenomenon I’ve sometimes referred to as self-distribution, reflecting the intense anxiety that people in Gaza are experiencing, unaware of when the next round of humanitarian aid will arrive,” he explained.
Local authorities reported armed looters attacked an aid convoy Thursday night, while bakeries were inundated as desperate crowds gathered.
Khan Younis, Gaza
The disorganized reboot of UN aid deliveries was a temporary measure permitted by Israel due to escalating criticism from allies.
However, with support from the U.S., Israel is already making plans to take control of aid distribution within Gaza, circumventing established UN systems.
The United States and Israel have long asserted that UN aid was being misappropriated by Hamas and other militant groups in Gaza, a claim that the UN denies.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation will override UN aid mechanisms
The newly formed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), based in Switzerland, will set up distribution centers managed by private U.S. companies, with operations expected to commence by the end of this month.
Last week, acting U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Dorothy Shea, informed the UN Security Council that the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is “an independent entity established to provide a secure mechanism capable of delivering aid directly to those in need without Hamas diverting, looting, or exploiting this assistance for its own purposes.”
Nearly half a million people are facing catastrophic hunger – UN
She further referenced the testimony of freed Israeli hostage Eli Sharabi, who “observed his Hamas captors taking numerous boxes of aid marked with UN and UNRWA logos into the tunnels where he was held captive,” she stated.
Yet, this initiative was met with immediate condemnation from the United Nations and other non-governmental organizations.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres cautioned that instituting a new aid monitoring and distribution system could “further control and limit aid down to the last calorie and grain of flour.”
In statements made on Friday, the UN chief reiterated the organization’s refusal to engage with the new system.
“We will not participate in any arrangement that disregards international law and the humanitarian principles of humanity, impartiality, independence, and neutrality,” he stated to reporters.
The head of the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Tom Fletcher, went further in the Security Council last week, labeling it “a facade for further violence and the displacement of Palestinians.”
“It is a cynical distraction,” he declared to the council members.
UN agencies on the ground voiced their opposition as well.
“Israeli officials have sought to dismantle the existing aid distribution framework operated by the United Nations and its humanitarian allies, proposing that we deliver supplies through Israeli hubs under military-imposed conditions,” the UN’s humanitarian country team for the Occupied Palestinian Territory stated.
The plan seemed crafted to “reinforce control over life-sustaining supplies as part of a military strategy,” the statement noted.
“This is perilous, forcing civilians into militarized areas to procure rations, endangering lives, including those of humanitarian workers, while further entrenching forced displacement.”
Elizabeth Campbell, director of ODI Global, a Washington DC-based think tank, told RTÉ News that effective humanitarian assistance must be civilian-led.
“No military, paramilitary, or armed contractor can effectively provide basic aid to civilians without endangering their lives and exacerbating the immense suffering occurring in Gaza,” she asserted.
The UN cannot and should not operate under these conditions, she argued, “as they will easily be exploited as a tool of war rather than as protectors of the world’s most vulnerable civilian victims of conflict.”
Despite widespread criticism, plans for the Gaza Humanitarian Fund appeared to be advancing swiftly.
Press reports indicated satellite imagery showed the construction of three large distribution sites near Rafah.
Aid trucks stalled at the Kerem Shalom crossing point
Safe Reach Solutions, one of the private U.S. firms involved with the foundation, sought to recruit staff with experience in non-governmental organizations, including the United Nations and its agencies.
When asked if the UN objected to the hiring of UN personnel for a foundation it opposed, Mr. Dujarric expressed hope that anyone leaving the UN would continue to uphold its principles.
On Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed that new aid distribution points would be managed by U.S. companies and secured by the Israeli Defense Forces.
He mentioned the creation of “sterile zones” in southern Gaza, where civilians will need to go to access aid.
He added that Palestinians who enter these zones “don’t necessarily return.”
Earlier this month, Israel’s far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich stated that once Palestinians reach a “humanitarian zone” in southern Gaza, they will “leave in great numbers” to other countries.
“Should Israel proceed with this plan and further tarnish and undermine the crucial work of the UN,” Ms. Campbell warned, “it would signify a dismal day for international humanitarian law, the Geneva Conventions, and the UN charter—agreements designed after World War II to prevent future atrocities.”
However, Jake Wood, director of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, told U.S. television network CNN that Israel controls access to Gaza and believes “a significant portion of aid is being intercepted by Hamas and other non-state actors.”
“We have no option but to establish a mechanism that operates within that framework,” he said, adding: “I’m here to address a problem and to provide food.”
He emphasized that the international aid community now faces a critical choice.
“This will be the mechanism for distributing aid in Gaza,” he stated, “will you participate?”
“The response is crucial for whether we can adequately feed 2.2 million people in a dire situation,” he added.
It remains uncertain whether UN operations will be barred from functioning in Gaza once the new mechanism is implemented.
UN agencies would continue to provide aid as long as they received permission, Farhan Haq, the deputy spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General, mentioned on Friday.
“I can’t say if or when that will change,” he added.
