US envoy criticizes Israel and UN for failing to cooperate on Gaza aid

US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield knocks both Israel and the United Nations for failing to appropriately cooperate to ensure that humanitarian aid can reach civilians in Gaza.

“It is time for Israel and the United Nations to stop working against each other and instead take pragmatic steps to ensure there is no interruption of humanitarian aid delivery to Palestinians in desperate need,” Thomas-Greenfield says in remarks at the monthly UN Security Council session on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The US envoy calls on Israel not to restrict the delivery of aid, lift obstacles that hamper such deliveries and ensure that the recently passed Knesset legislation aimed at dismantling UNRWA doesn’t further harm the aid effort.

But Thomas-Greenfield also urges the UN to work with Israel and other parties to advance a viable plan to ensure the delivery of aid once the Knesset legislation goes into place late next month.

She laments that a recent letter from Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’s office, defending the work of UNRWA amid a flood of revelations tying the relief agency for Palestinian refugees to Hamas, indicated that the UN “has not yet begun an earnest conversation with Israel regarding implementation of the [Knesset] legislation.

“Nor does it appear that relevant UN agencies have had detailed conversations regarding steps they could take to help ensure continuity of UN aid deliveries to Gaza,” she continues. “With lives in the balance, this must change. The UN must demonstrate that it will continue to work to find a path to support the people of Gaza.”