GENEVA: It is "very difficult" to imagine any operation to deliver humanitarian aid to the besieged Gaza Strip without the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, a UNRWA spokeswoman said on Friday. The United States on Thursday announced a new foundation to provide aid to Gaza, sidelining the United Nations as Israel's two-month blockade brings severe shortages to the war-battered Palestinian territory.
"It is impossible to replace UNRWA in a place like Gaza. We are the largest humanitarian organisation," the agency's spokeswoman Juliette Touma told a press conference in Geneva, when asked about that proposal. Little is known for sure about the body proposed by the United States, but a listing in Switzerland showed the establishment in February of the "Gaza Humanitarian Foundation". "We have the largest reach, whether it is through our teams that work across the Gaza Strip, where we have more than 10,000 people who work to deliver whatever is left of the supplies," said Touma, speaking from Amman, Jordan. "We also manage shelters for the displaced families." "It is very, very difficult to imagine any humanitarian operation without UNRWA." Israel has blockaded Gaza for two months, leading UN agencies and other humanitarian groups to warn of dwindling supplies of everything from fuel to medicine to the territory of 2.4 million Palestinians.
Israel denies a humanitarian crisis is unfolding in the Gaza Strip, where it plans to expand military operations to force Hamas to free hostages held there since the Iran-backed group's unprecedented October 2023 attack sparked the war. Israel, which accuses Hamas of diverting aid, is reportedly aiming to shut down the existing UN-led aid distribution system in Gaza, forcing all deliveries to go through Israeli hubs.
Such a proposal is widely criticised by the UN and humanitarian organisations. "We'll only participate in any aid operation that respects our humanitarian principles of independence, humanity and impartiality," UN spokesman Rolando Gomez told the press conference. James Elder, spokesman for the UN children's agency UNICEF, said Israel's plan would only increase the suffering of youngsters in the Gaza Strip. "It's dangerous to ask civilians to go into militarised zones to collect rations; it further entrenches forced displacement for political and military purposes; and humanitarian aid should never be used as a bargaining chip," he said. Those most at risk, who are unable to travel to such zones, would "face horrendous challenges" in accessing aid as a result, Elder added. "And the use of humanitarian aid as a bait to force displacement, especially from the north to the south, will create this impossible choice between displacement and death."
Meanwhile, Israel would not be involved in food distribution under a US-led plan for the Gaza Strip but would provide "necessary military security", Washington's ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, said on Friday. Huckabee spoke to reporters in Tel Aviv a day after the US State Department said a new foundation would lead the distribution of humanitarian aid in war-battered Gaza, where an over two-month-long Israeli blockade has caused severe shortages of everything from food and clean water to fuel and medicine.
"The Israelis are going to be involved in providing necessary military security, because it is a war zone, but they will not be involved in the distribution of the food, or even in the bringing of the food into Gaza," the US ambassador said. The US-led initiative has been met with international criticism as it appears to sideline the United Nations and existing aid organisations; and would overhaul current humanitarian structures in Gaza. "We call upon the United Nations. We call upon every NGO. We call upon every government... We invite people who have been concerned about it to join in this process," Huckabee said.
Despite fears of looming famine, Israel denies a humanitarian crisis is unfolding and accuses Hamas of diverting aid sent to Gaza. The Israeli military earlier this week outlined plans for a broader assault in Gaza after more than 19 months of war, which European governments, China, UN agencies and NGOs have voiced alarm over. — AFP
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