UNRWA announces suspension of aid deliveries through key crossing point from Israel

Photo: Zain Jaafar Agence France-Presse A man wearing a jacket from the United Nations refugee agency (UNRWA) walks on a street that was razed by Israeli forces during a raid in Jenin in the occupied West Bank on January 29, 2024.

Agence France-Presse

Published at 10:37

• Middle East

The United Nations refugee agency (UNRWA) announced on Sunday that it was suspending aid deliveries to the Gaza Strip from a key crossing with Israel, as delivery had become “impossible.”

“We are suspending aid delivery through Kerem Shalom, the main humanitarian aid crossing into Gaza,” a “difficult decision […] as hunger is rapidly worsening” in the war-torn territory for nearly 14 months, UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini told X.

Most trucks carrying humanitarian aid enter through the Kerem Shalom crossing on the border between Israel and the southern Gaza Strip.

However, “the route out of this crossing is not safe for months. On November 16, a large convoy of aid trucks was robbed by armed gangs,” adds Mr. Lazzarini.

On Saturday, “we tried to get a few trucks of food on that same road. They were all taken,” he wrote.

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In Gaza, ravaged by more than a year of war that began after Hamas’ unprecedented attack on Israeli soil, “the humanitarian operation has become impossible,” due in particular, according to Mr. Lazzarini, the “ongoing siege, the obstacles posed by the Israeli authorities” and the “lack of security” on the routes.

“The responsibility for protecting humanitarian workers and equipment lies with the State of Israel as the occupying power. “It must ensure that aid reaches Gaza safely and refrain from attacking aid workers,” said the head of UNRWA, who called for a ceasefire.

The Gaza Strip has descended into anarchy, with rising starvation, widespread looting and increasing rape in refugee camps, as law and order has collapsed, UN officials warned on Friday.

The day before, during a press trip organized by Israeli authorities accused of obstruction, a military official had shown aid shipments and indicated that the goods often wait for “months” on the Palestinian side of Kerem Shalom.

According to UNRWA, only 65 aid trucks per day were able to enter the Gaza Strip in October, compared to an average of 500 before the war. No UN-mandated trucks had been able to reach the north of the territory, which is in the grip of fighting, according to the same source.

Most trucks enter through Kerem Shalom before being checked for security reasons. Fuel shortages for trucks, poor road conditions, and shelling and fighting in densely populated areas add to the complexity of the operations.

The temporary halt in deliveries by UNRWA is therefore a “very bad omen” and “dramatic in a context that was already so,” reacted Jean-François Corty, president of Médecins du Monde, on Sunday, according to whom “the mortality indicators are exponential and mind-boggling,” due in particular to the lack of food, medicines, and access to water.

For Claire Nicolet, head of mission for Médecins sans Frontières, it is “catastrophic.” “Commercial deliveries have been stopped, there is no more bakery, and the UN agency is the backbone of aid for the supply of food and equipment,” and part of the medical supply.