Reports indicated on Tuesday that Israel's controversial aid distribution plan had begun in Gaza as the United Nations called once again on the Israeli authorities to allow an "immediate surge" in the amount of supplies reaching the enclave to prevent starvation.
After nearly three months of complete blockade by Israel, a "vastly insufficient" amount of aid was finally allowed into the war-ravaged enclave in the last week, insisted Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN aid coordination office, OCHA .
"We have not stopped operating," he said, referring to staff still inside Gaza, who are tasked with liaising with the Israeli authorities to retrieve supplies allowed into Gaza from Israel, via the Kerem Shalom crossing.
Mr. Laerke insisted that the UN is not participating in the Israeli aid plan: "It is a distraction from what is actually needed, which is a reopening of all the crossings into Gaza, a secure environment within Gaza and faster facilitation of permissions and final approvals of all the emergency supplies that we have just outside the border; [aid] needs to get in."
The veteran humanitarian stressed the ongoing dangers and obstacles that have prevented aid teams from picking up and dispatching lifesaving supplies via the UN's existing delivery network in Gaza.
"We are not always able to collect what is being dropped off on the other side because of the insecure routes that are being assigned to us by the Israeli authorities to use," he told journalists in Geneva.
'Cherry-picking' warning
All types of aid must be allowed through and not "cherry-picked", Mr. Laerke stressed: "The bottom line again is that we are talking about a vastly insufficient amount of aid that eventually enters Gaza at the moment. That's why we need [the] opening of more crossings, we need all types of aid - not that aid that is cherry-picked by the Israeli side that we are allowed to get in."
In an update, the UN World Food Programme ( WFP ) said that as of Monday, 294 trucks have reached Kerem Shalom from Port Ashdod. On Tuesday, media reports indicated that protesters attempted to block lorries loaded with aid from leaving the Israeli port.
"While desperately needed aid is finally trickling into Gaza, the pace is far too slow to meet the overwhelming needs," WFP said. "Gaza families are at a breaking point, amid intensified fighting, waves of evacuation orders and population displacement."
Crossing the line
The UN agency noted that it has "more than 130,000 metric tonnes of food in the pipeline as well as a functioning delivery network ready to provide assistance. An immediate surge in daily aid trucks and unrestricted access to safely collect and distribute food inside Gaza are critical before it is too late."
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA , meanwhile, explained that "no supplies whatsoever" prepared by the agency have reached Gaza since the Israeli siege began on 2 March.
This is despite UNRWA having readied more than 3,000 trucks carrying food and medicines in Jordan and Egypt which will perish soon.
"We have clinics, we have pharmacies that the agency runs and there we normally would distribute medicines against chronic diseases…but also basic medicines, things like paracetamol and then childhood diseases and these are the medicines that we're running out of," said Juliette Touma, UNRWA Director of Communications.
Evidence call to Israel
The development comes as UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini urged the Israeli Government to provide proof to back up its unsubstantiated allegations that the UN agency's staff were involved in the Hamas-led terror attacks in Israel that sparked the war in October 2023.
Investigations carried out internally by the UN last year found sufficient evidence that nine active UNRWA staff had been involved.
A separate independent probe commissioned by the UN Secretary-General found that the agency's rules, mechanisms and procedures were the most "elaborate" within the UN, reflecting the complex and sensitive demands associated with working in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
"It's been over 20 months of these claims coming our way, harming the agency's reputation of course, but more importantly, putting the lives of our staff, especially those working in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, at risk," said Ms. Touma.
Despite numerous requests by UNRWA to the Israeli Government for evidence to substantiate "numerous accusations", no evidence has been shared to back up the claims against the agency and its personnel, Ms. Touma continued.
