Israeli Officials Blame UN Aid Bottleneck for Deepening Gaza Food Crisis
Nearly 950 aid trucks are stalled at border crossings into Gaza, as Israeli officials and the United Nations (UN) trade blame over the worsening humanitarian situation. On Tuesday, a senior Israeli security official said the backlog at the Kerem Shalom and Zikim crossings is due to UN inaction, not Israeli restrictions.
The Israeli body responsible for aid coordination, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), stated that the aid currently stored inside Gaza is sufficient to sustain the Strip’s food needs for more than two weeks. Despite this, distribution has slowed dramatically. According to the official, the UN agreed to collect up to 80 trucks on Tuesday, but only took in 30.
COGAT said it is not preventing aid from entering, but cannot agree to UN demands such as allowing Hamas police escorts or permitting communications gear that could be exploited by the group. The official emphasized, “We have not identified starvation at this current point in time, but we understand that action is required to stabilize the humanitarian situation.”
Hamas’s health ministry reported that 15 people, including four children, died in the past day from hunger and malnutrition, bringing the war’s total to 101 such deaths. The Israeli official dismissed the reports as part of a Hamas-led propaganda effort tied to stalled hostage negotiations, saying, “This is a cynical and timed move aimed at creating international pressure on Israel.”
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Since aid resumed in May, Israel has routed deliveries through the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a US- and Israel-backed mechanism designed to prevent Hamas from seizing supplies. However, the system has been blamed by critics for chaotic distribution and violence. The UN said over 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces while trying to access aid since GHF operations began.
The US and more than 25 Western countries have urged Israel to end the war, condemning the deaths of civilians seeking humanitarian assistance as “inhumane” and “horrifying”.
