Israeli minister prevents flour from reaching UNRWA in Gaza
Israel's Finance Ministry has blocked food deliveries to Gaza because the shipments were intended to reach the main UN agency for Palestinians, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Tuesday.
Mr. Smotrich, a leader of the far-right settlers, said in a statement that he had issued a directive not to transfer flour shipments to the organization, known as UNRWA, citing allegations that some of its employees had ties to Hamas, including twelve accused of participating in the armed group's attack on Israel on October 7.
Last week, a subcontractor handling shipments for UNRWA received a call from Israel's customs agency — which is housed in Mr. Smotrich's ministry — ordering it not to handle UNRWA goods in its warehouse, said Juliette Touma, a spokeswoman for the UNRWA.
About 1,050 containers – many of them flour – have been stopped at Israel's port of Ashdod, Philippe Lazzarini, head of UNRWA, told reporters on Friday. The amount was enough to feed 1.1 million Gazans for a month, he said. Mr Lazzarini said UNRWA still has enough supplies to feed Gazans for three months, but only because the food is now routed through Egypt rather than Israel.
Mr Smotrich said another mechanism for distributing aid would be found “that would not reach Hamas”, using what he said was UNRWA as a “key part of its war machine”. UNRWA has said it is investigating the allegations but remains committed to its work as an essential humanitarian in a complex situation.
In an effort to get more aid into Gaza, U.S., British and European officials last month urged Israel to facilitate aid access through Ashdod. Humanitarian aid already enters Gaza by land through the Rafah crossing with Egypt and the Kerem Shalom crossing with Israel, although it “may be very difficult to make deliveries outside Rafah North,” said Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for the Secretary General of the UN, António. Guterres, said Tuesday.
Under the plan, the shipments would arrive in Ashdod before entering the Strip via Kerem Shalom. Following a visit by Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken last month, Israeli officials indicated the initiative would go ahead. But their signals came before the allegations came to light, and the proposal appears to have been complicated for now by Mr. Smotrich's order to block the shipments.
This move could also complicate Israel's international position. The International Court of Justice last month ordered the Israeli government to take action to prevent genocide in Gaza, including by increasing humanitarian aid to ease the worsening humanitarian crisis in the enclave.
Aid officials say much more aid is needed to ease the humanitarian crisis affecting Gaza's more than two million Palestinian residents amid severe shortages of food, water and medicine.
According to the United Nations, about 1.7 million people have been displaced in the area, many of whom are facing extreme hunger. More than a million people have flocked to and around the southern city of Rafah, joining growing tent cities near the Egyptian border.
Farnaz Fassihi reporting contributed.