The situation in Gaza is the worst since the beginning of the war between Israel and Hamas, 19 months ago, the UN said on Friday, despite the resumption of limited deliveries of humanitarian aid in the Palestinian enclave, where hunger spreads.
Israel closed a 11 -week blockade in Gaza 12 days ago, allowing the resumption of limited operations led by the UN. On Monday (26), a new route was also launched for the distribution of help: the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), supported by the United States and Israel.
“Any help that comes to those who need is good,” UN spokesman Stephane Dujaric told New York reporters. But, he added, the help deliveries so far have had “very, very small impact.”
“The catastrophic situation in Gaza is the worst since the beginning of the war,” he added.
The UN and international humanitarian groups have refused to work with GHF, claiming that the foundation is not neutral and has a distribution model that forces the displacement of Palestinians.
Israel ultimately wants the UN to work through GHF, which uses private US security and logistics companies to transport help to Gaza, for distribution by civilians in so -called safe distribution sites.
However, Israel will allow the delivery of “immediate future” help by both UN and GHF operations, said Israeli ambassador to UN, Danny Danon this week. GHF said on Friday that, so far, managed to distribute more than 2.1 million meals.
Israel has long accused Hamas of stealing help, which the group denies.
Since 2023, when Hamas fighters killed 1,200 people in Israel and held about 250 hostages, according to Israeli data, and Israel responded with a military campaign that killed more than 54,000 Palestinians, Gaza’s health officials.
Withdrawals and access
The UN states that, in the last 12 days, it was able to transport only about 200 humanitarian aid trucks to Gaza, harmed by insecurity and Israeli access restrictions.
It was not immediately clear how this help has reached the needy. The UN stated that some trucks and a worldwide food program was also looted by desperate and hungry people.
UN employees have also criticized Israeli limitations as to the type of help they can provide.
“The Israeli authorities did not allow us to bring a single meal ready for consumption. The only allowed food was flour to bakeries. Even if it was allowed in unlimited amounts, which did not happen, it would not represent a complete diet for anyone,” said UN spokesman Eri Kaneko for humanitarian affairs.
Some of the GHF help beneficiaries said the packages include rice, flour, canned beans, pasta, olive oil, cookies and sugar.
In a complex process, Israel inspects and releases help loads, which are then transported to the Palestinian side of Kerem Shalom’s passage. There, the help is discharged and then recharged in other transport trucks to warehouses in Gaza.
Hundreds of other aid trucks are currently awaiting UN collection on the Palestinian side of Kerem Shalom.
“More help would come to people if you gathered the help waiting for them on crossings,” Cogat told Israeli agency for military aid coordination, to the UN in an X post on Friday.
However, the UN stated that on Tuesday (27), the Israeli military denied all their requests for access to Kerem Shalom to seek help. And on Thursday (29), when 65 aid trucks managed to leave the crossing, all except five, returned due to intense fighting.
Five medical aid trucks managed to reach a campaign hospital warehouses, but “a group of armed individuals broke into warehouses, looting large amounts of medical equipment, supplies, medications and nutritional supplements for malnourished children,” said Dujaric.
Ceasefire proposal
Israel states that it has facilitated all help deliveries. Cogat said this week that, since the war, 1.8 million tons of humanitarian aid, including 1.3 million tons of food, arrived in Gaza.
A US proposal for a conflict – accepted by Israel and currently under analysis by Hamas – provides for the delivery of humanitarian aid to the United Nations, the Red Crescent and other agreed channels.
During a two-month ceasefire, closed when Israel resumed its military operation in March, the UN said it sent 600 to 700 humanitarian aid trucks a day to Gaza. The UN emphasized that when people know that there is a constant flow of help, withdrawals decrease.
“To avoid chaos, help should flow constantly,” published Corinne Fleischer, director of the UN World Food Program to the Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe on Thursday.
“When people know that food is coming, despair becomes calm,” he says.
