What to know about Israel's claim that UN has tons of food in Gaza that it won't distribute
Israel officials are hitting back at claims that they have have delayed aid from coming into Gaza — sharing images of tons of aid piled up inside the Gaza Strip, which they said is just waiting to be delivered to hungry Palestinians.
Col. Abdullah Halabi, from the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), told reporters last week that around 1,000 truckloads of aid remain undelivered 'due to a lack of cooperation from the international community and international organizations.'
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But, a former US aid official called Israel's claims 'disingenuous — knowingly false.'
The UN has for months accused Israel of refusing to coordinate with aid workers to get food and medicine to Gazans — making it too dangerous to widely distribute aid.
4 A war of words has broken out between the UN and Israel over aid deliveries to Gaza.
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Former Israeli spokesman Eylon Levy ultimately accused the UN of 'unforgivable negligence' in its actions preventing food from reaching Gaza.
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'The failure of the UN aid mechanism in Gaza is truly catastrophic. 600 trucks' worth of food the IDF is urging the UN to pick up. I saw mountains of pasta, lentils, hummus, cooking oil, sugar, and flour,' he wrote on X, accompanying a video of him walking among aid supplies.
4 The UN warns all 2 million Gaza residents are at risk of starvation.
REUTERS
For its part, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said trucks traversing Gaza have to contend with traveling though an active war zone, along with hoards of desperate people rushing to get the supplies, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
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Criminal gangs have also previously attempted to ransack the vehicles as they enter the Strip.
'Taken together, these factors have put people and humanitarian staff at grave risk and forced aid agencies on many occasions to pause the collection of cargo from crossings controlled by the Israeli authorities,' OCHA said in a statement last week.
Grim video footage from Saturday, shot by a reporter on the ground, captured scores of people clamoring on top of two moving trucks in southern Gaza — just days after images of starving Palestinian children alarmed the world.
As the trucks inched along, hundreds of people could be seen shoving each other as they tried to rush toward the vehicles, the clip shows.
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The UN has also accused Israel of repeatedly rejecting requests to allow the trucks to enter Gaza, with Israel claiming it imposes no limits on the aid trucks seeking permission to enter.
Since Israel lifted its aid blockade in late May, the US-funded non-profit the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) has started to deliver aid — overseen by armed Israel Defense Forces soldiers.
4 The UN has accused Israel of failing to create a safe path for aid.
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The group has come under fire for its handling of food deliveries, with humanitarian aid groups refusing to work with the GHF over the armed distribution points.
The UN's human rights office said that 1,000 Palestinians have been killed trying to reach the GHF food distribution sites in recent weeks.
A group of Democratic senators have since called on President Trump to suspend American financial support for the GHF, expressing 'grave' concerns.
'We urge you to immediately cease all U.S. funding for GHF and resume support for the existing UN-led aid coordination mechanisms with enhanced oversight to ensure that humanitarian aid reaches civilians in need,' they wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
4 Palestinians walks away with sacks of flour after humanitarian aid was allowed to enter northern Gaza on Sunday.
AFP via Getty Images
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The UN has also blamed the IDF for damaging roads in and out of Gaza and failing to guarantee safety for aid workers in the territory.
'It is disingenuous — knowingly false — for any party to assert that it is failure, lack of courage, or deliberate conspiratorial withholding of aid by the UN or international organizations that is responsible for the humanitarian suffering in Gaza,' David Satterfield, a former US humanitarian envoy in Gaza, told the Times of Israel.
The UN warned of 'catastrophic hunger' in Gaza as it said all 2 million residents are severely food insecure in a statement on Sunday following Israel's pledge to implement daily pauses in the fighting to allow aid through.
'This is progress, but vast amounts of aid are needed to stave off famine and a catastrophic health crisis,' Tom Fletcher from the OCHA said in a statement.
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On Monday, Trump said there was 'real starvation' in Gaza.
Just under 30 aid packages carrying food were airdropped over Gaza on Sunday, COGAT said in a statement.
Israel has continued to blame Hamas for diverting aid from civilians throughout the war.
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However, an internal US government analysis found no evidence of systematic theft of aid supplies by the group, according to the report presented to State Department officials, which the IDF branded 'biased.'
The World Food Program said on Sunday it has enough food heading to the region to feed Gaza's entire population 'for almost three months,' but warned that a 'third of the population' is still 'not eating for days.'
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