UN mission to assess northern Gaza grounded amid Israeli safety concerns — officials
Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief
WASHINGTON — Two weeks after it was announced by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, a United Nations mission tasked with assessing conditions in northern Gaza has yet to embark amid Israeli concerns that the area is not yet safe, two officials familiar with the matter tell The Times of Israel.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s approval of the mission was one of the main deliverables Blinken secured during his trip to Israel on January 9.
The US is looking for Palestinians to be allowed to return to northern Gaza after the IDF ordered its one million residents to evacuate at the beginning of the war.
Israel has rejected the idea over concerns it could allow Hamas to regain a foothold in the area. But Blinken appeared to have secured a compromise in the form of the UN mission, which would evaluate the conditions in northern Gaza and determine the provisions for civilians to be able to return.
While Blinken said he expected the mission to move into northern Gaza immediately, Israeli officials have told their American counterparts in recent days that it is not yet safe enough for UN staffers to enter as Hamas fighters are still operating there, according to an Israeli and a US official.
The US official says that the Biden administration trusts the Israeli assessment but is also cognizant that Jerusalem may try and drag its feet in allowing the UN team to complete its mission.
The US official acknowledges that Israel is in no rush to allow Palestinians to return to northern Gaza, given that it has not yet determined who will be in charge of running civil affairs in that area, where Hamas is said to have largely lost its hold.
The safety concern voiced by Israel also appears to be an implicit acknowledgement by it does not have full control of northern Gaza, even after ending what it called high-intensity fighting in the area earlier this month.
