From the Liveblog of
Monday, February 26, 2024
Official: Israel looking for alternative to UNRWA to distribute Gaza aid
Lazar Berman is The Times of Israel's diplomatic reporter
One of the goals in war cabinet discussions, including last night’s, around preventing humanitarian aid from reaching Hamas is finding alternatives to UNRWA to distribute aid, an Israeli official tells The Times of Israel.
“There are discussions with other humanitarian groups in Gaza,” says the official.
The official adds that Israel wants aid to reach the northern Gaza Strip, but as of now there is no plan to bring it in from the northern border, where the Erez Crossing was before Hamas destroyed it on October 7.
Another Israeli official tells The Times of Israel that Hamas is able to steal a diminishing proportion of the aid, and that “the numbers are encouraging.”
“The process takes time,” says the official, adding that the ultimate goal is to have all the aid come in from Egypt and for Israel to detach from Gaza.
Some 300 trucks carrying humanitarian aid are expected to reach Gaza today, with half going through the Kerem Shalom crossing, and the other half going through the Nitzana Crossing to Egypt before being sent into Gaza through Rafah.
Four Jordanian planes are also slated to drop aid into the Jordanian field hospital in the Gaza Strip, sources tell The Times of Israel.
