Dec. 1 (UPI) — Security concerns have prompted the U.N. agency providing aid to Palestinians to suspend deliveries through the main crossing between Israel and Gaza, officials announced Sunday.
Two recent convoys have been looted by armed gangs near the Kerem Shalom crossing and officials called on Israel to maintain law and order, according to Unrwa head, Philippe Lazzarini.
Kerem Shalom is the main route used to deliver aid to the more than 2 million people in Gaza, which is said to be on the brink of famine.
Lazzarini said the road leading away from the crossing “has not been safe for months,” and offered as evidence the theft of five trucks on Saturday, and an incident that occurred last month in which a convoy of 109 trucks carrying food was attacked by masked men who held the drivers at gunpoint before stealing 97 of the vehicles and their contents.
A notorious Gazan crime family is thought to be behind the attacks, and has blocked the main road leading away from Kerem Shalom for two days, erecting iron barriers and reportedly shooting at trucks trying to access an aid distribution point.
In the latest spasm of deadly violence involving food aid, Palestinian chef Mahmoud Almadhoun was killed in an Israeli strike in Gaza on Saturday, his brother announced on social media as Palestinian restaurants in the United States paid tribute.
The announcement of the pause in deliveries at Kerem Shalom follows the deaths of three people employed by World Central Kitchen, a food charity, and two others in an Israeli strike Saturday.
Israel has previously said that it facilitates the passage of aid into Gaza and accused Hamas of hijacking and stealing deliveries.
Speaking at the U.N. in September, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his government was allowing “more than 3,000 calories a day for every man, woman and child” into Gaza.
Aid workers have said violence by criminal gangs is disrupting supplies, and is now the main obstacle to getting food to people in Gaza. But the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, which oversees the Israeli government’s civilian policy in Gaza, said multiple agencies are offering assistance to hungry Gazans.
“Here is something @UNLazzarini forgot to mention: Only 7% of the aid that came into the Gaza Strip in November was coordinated by @UNRWA,” the organization said on social media.
“There are dozens of humanitarian organizations operating in the Gaza Strip that continue to take a growing role in delivering humanitarian aid to the people who need it. Last week, over 1,000 trucks carrying humanitarian aid were collected from the various crossings and distributed throughout the Gaza Strip,” COGAT continued in the post.
Israel has responded to international pressure to open additional border crossings to increase the flow of aid into Gaza.