UN says critical aid routes into northern Gaza cut off as IDF renews offensive

Spokesperson says no food, essential supplies entered Strip since October 1, but Israel says it’s not blocking assistance; UNRWA still distributing bread and more

Illustrative: A man carries a humanitarian aid package provided by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in central Gaza City on August 27, 2024. (Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
Illustrative: A man carries a humanitarian aid package provided by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in central Gaza City on August 27, 2024. (Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)

UN humanitarian officials say aid entering Gaza is at its lowest level in months and warn that critical aid lifelines into northern Gaza, where Israel has renewed its offensive, have been cut off.

UN deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq delivered the grim news Friday, saying the main crossings into the north have been closed and no food or other essential supplies have entered since October 1.

More than 400,000 people who remain in the north are under increasing pressure to move south, Haq said.

On Wednesday, the Israeli military body that oversees aid distribution in Gaza, COGAT, said in a statement that “Israel has not halted the entry or coordination of humanitarian aid” in the north.

Meanwhile, the humanitarian organization MedGlobal, which has worked in Gaza since 2018, said Friday that the Israeli army’s renewed military action has driven the remaining healthcare facilities in the north “to the brink of collapse.”

Three hospitals with hundreds of patients including children in intensive care — Kamal Adwan, Al-Awda and the Indonesian Hospital — have been ordered to evacuate by Israeli authorities and are on the verge of running out of fuel.

A truck carrying humanitarian aid for the Gaza Strip is loaded at the Kerem Shalom Border Crossing between southern Israel and Gaza, on June 17, 2024. (Ahikam Seri/AFP)

Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan and MedGlobal’s lead physician in Gaza, said Friday that the hospital received “numerous injuries and fatalities due to the targeting of Al Naji area.”

The hospital’s intensive care unit is overcrowded and the “catastrophic situation … will worsen in the coming hours if there is no fuel for emergency services,” he said in a statement.

Haq said the UN World Food Program reports that it has been unable to deliver food parcels to the more than 1 million Palestinians slated to receive them so far this month “due to constrained access of aid supplies.”

In the north, WFP said kitchens, distribution points and bakeries have either been forced to shut down or are at risk of shutting down if the war continues, Haq said, adding that the bakeries are also running out of wheat flour.

Despite the challenges, Haq said, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, and its partners are distributing bread, meals and flour to designated shelters and beyond.

United Nations and Israeli government data show that deliveries of food and aid sank to their lowest level in seven months in September, Reuters reported earlier this month.

People involved in getting goods to Gaza told the outlet that food supplies to the Strip had fallen sharply in recent weeks because Israeli authorities introduced a new customs rule on truck convoys chartered by the United Nations to take aid from Jordan to Gaza via Israel. which aid groups

Under the rule, individuals from relief organizations sending aid must complete a form providing passport details, and accept liability for any false information on a shipment, sources said. Relief agencies fear signing the form could expose staff to legal problems if aid fell into the hands of Hamas or other enemies of Israel.

Israeli security forces guard while people protest against aid trucks entering the Gaza Strip, at the Nitzana Border Crossing in southern Israel, February 14, 2024. (Erik Marmor/Flash90)

Israeli authorities also restricted commercial food shipments to Gaza amid concerns that Hamas was benefiting from that trade, the people familiar with the matter and industry sources told Reuters.

COGAT confirmed to the news agency that no UN chartered convoy has moved from Jordan to Gaza since September 19, but a spokesperson said Israel was not blocking goods.

Food insecurity has been one of the most fraught issues of the war that began after Hamas’s October 7, 2023, terror onslaught on Israel, in which some 1,200 people were slaughtered and 251 were seized as hostages.

Israel has denied accusations that it has carried out a “targeted starvation campaign” in the Gaza Strip, and the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) in June found that its earlier assessment, which had warned that there would be famine by July, had been wildly inaccurate.

In May, International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutors asked the court to issue an arrest warrant against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying they suspected Israeli authorities had used “the starvation of civilians as a method of warfare.”

A truck carrying humanitarian aid for the Gaza Strip passes through the Kerem Shalom border crossing between southern Israel and Gaza, on June 17, 2024. (Ahikam Seri/AFP)

Israeli authorities have denied this, saying they facilitate food deliveries to Gaza despite challenging conditions. In September, they filed two official challenges to the ICC, contesting the legality of the prosecutor’s request and contesting the court’s jurisdiction.

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