UNRWA says north Gaza aid deliveries are barred by Israel

The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) on Sunday said that Israel had definitively barred it from making aid deliveries in northern Gaza, where the threat of famine is highest.

“Despite the tragedy unfolding under our watch, the Israeli Authorities informed the UN that they will no longer approve any @UNRWA food convoys to the north,” UNRWA CommissionerGeneral Philippe Lazzarini wrote on social media. “This is outrageous & makes it intentional to obstruct lifesaving assistance.”

Israel did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Lazzarini’s statement.

UNRWA Director of Communications Juliette Touma said the decision had been relayed in a meeting with Israeli military officials on Sunday. It followed two denials in writing for convoy deliveries to the north last week.

No reason for the decision was given, Touma said.

Gaza faces dire humanitarian conditions as a result of Israel’s war against Hamas that began nearly six months ago, triggered by Hamas’ unprecedented attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7 last year.

Last week a UN-backed food security assessment warned that famine was projected to hit the north of Gaza by May unless there was urgent intervention.

UNRWA has not been able to deliver food to the north since Jan. 29, Touma said.

“The latest decision is another nail in the coffin” for efforts to get desperately needed aid to Gazans reeling from war, Touma said.

Martin Griffiths, head of the UN humanitarian coordination office, on Sunday said on social media that UNRWA “is the beating heart of the humanitarian response in Gaza.”

“The decision to block its food convoys to the north only pushes thousands closer to famine. It must be revoked,” he said.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on social media that blocking UNRWA aid deliveries was “in fact denying starving people the ability to survive.”

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged an end to the “non-stop nightmare” endured by Gaza’s 2.4 million people in the territory’s worst-ever war.

Israel has accused UNRWA staff members of participating in the Oct. 7 attack and called the agency “a front for Hamas.”

Touma said Israeli authorities on Sunday also rejected a UN request to send a team to al-Shifa hospital in northern Gaza, where fighting has flared for almost a week, “to evacuate people who are injured.”

The Oct. 7 attack resulted in the deaths of about 1,160 people, mostly civilians, according to a tally of Israeli figures.

Israel’s military campaign to eliminate Hamas has killed at least 32,226 people, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.