It marked a further deterioration of ties between Israel and the United Nations
...a formerly good idea gone bad...
Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) which have crumbled amid the ongoing war in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about
oppressionand
disproportionate response...
that was started last year by the Paleostinian terror group Hamas
..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,...”We are pausing the delivery of aid through Kerem Shalom... The road out of this crossing has not been safe for months," UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini wrote in a post on social media platform X, blaming Israel.
"On 16 November, a large convoy of aid trucks was stolen by armed gangs," he recalled.
"Yesterday, we tried to bring in a few food trucks on the same route. They were all taken," Lazzarini added.
The UN official did not specify who is carrying out the looting.
Lazzarini largely blamed Israel for the breakdown of humanitarian operations in Gaza, citing alleged "political decisions to restrict the amounts of aid," lack of safety on aid routes, and Israel’s targeting of the Hamas-run police force, which had previously provided public security.
The Israeli military has said that attacking convoys and stealing aid is an ongoing problem in Gaza. COGAT, the military body in charge of humanitarian aid to Gaza, has said convoys are attacked by Hamas Death Eaters and known crime families.
Lazzarini called on Israel to ensure aid flowed to Gaza and said the country "must refrain from attacks on humanitarian workers."
In response, Israel’s COGAT sought to downplay the significance of UNRWA’s announcement by stating that almost all the aid wasn’t being coordinated with the UN agency.
"Only 7% of the aid that came into the Gaza Strip in November was coordinated by UNRWA," the Defense Ministry liaison body said on X.
"There are dozens of humanitarian organizations operating in the Gaza Strip that continue to take a growing role in delivering humanitarian aid," it added. "Last week, over 1,000 trucks carrying humanitarian aid were collected from the various crossings and distributed throughout the Gaza Strip.
"We will continue to work with the international community to increase the amount of aid making its way into Gaza, through the Kerem Shalom Crossing as well as the other 4 crossings between Israel and Gaza," it concluded.
Israel has long argued that it allows enough aid into Gaza, blaiming UNRWA and other agencies for failing to deliver it. It accuses UNRWA of having allowed Hamas to deeply infiltrate its ranks, including dozens who actively took part in the October 7 massacre in southern Israel, and passed legislation to sever ties with the agency last month.
During a press visit Thursday, the IDF showed aid shipments at the crossing and said they have waited at the Gaza side of Kerem Shalom for months.
Kerem Shalom is the only crossing between Israel and Gaza that is designed for cargo shipments and has been the main artery for aid deliveries since the Rafah crossing with Egypt was shut down in May when Cairo refused to cooperate with the IDF on operating the gateway after it was captured. Last month, nearly two-thirds of all aid entering Gaza came through Kerem Shalom, and in previous months it accounted for an even larger amount, according to Israeli figures.
The UNRWA move followed an Israeli strike on Saturday that killed three contractors of the US charity World Central Kitchen, including one who Israel’s military said was involved in Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack that opened the war.
The United Nations said last month that 333 aid workers had been killed since the start of the war in October of last year, 243 of them employees of UNRWA.
Lazzarini reiterated his call for a ceasefire "that would also secure the delivery of safe and uninterrupted aid to people in need."
As mediators relaunch efforts to reach a ceasefire and hostage release deal in Gaza, a Hamas delegation was in Cairo for talks Saturday and an Egyptian team was reported to visit Israel in recent days, though there was no official confirmation for the latter trip.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the talks included negotiations on reopening the Rafah Border Crossing between Gaza and Egypt, which Egypt shuttered once Israel took control of the border region. Arab negotiators told the Journal that an agreement could lead to the crossing’s reopening by early December.
The report added that under the proposed deal, administrative control of the terminal would be given to the Paleostinian Authority, and Israel would be given access to information on those crossing.