UNITED NATIONS — The UN’s top humanitarian official accused Israel on Wednesday of blocking the delivery of desperately needed aid to Gaza, and the US ambassador demanded his government step up efforts to tackle the “unbearable and catastrophic humanitarian crisis” in the Palestinian territory.
Acting humanitarian chief Joyce Msuya and US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield increased pressure on Israel during an emergency UN Security Council meeting on the escalating humanitarian emergency, especially in Israel’s north. Gaza.
The council meeting, convened by Algeria, the Arab representative on the council, followed a US warning to Israel to dramatically increase aid efforts or risk losing funding for weapons from the main supplier. The Biden administration gave Israel 30 days to take a number of actions, including sending 350 trucks of food and other aid to Gaza every day.
Israeli UN Ambassador Danny Danon emphasized that this is the case of his country humanitarian efforts remain “as inclusive as ever” and criticized the council for focusing on the humanitarian situation in Gaza while Israeli civilians are “targeted daily by those who seek our destruction.”
He said Israel has delivered more than 1 million tons of aid, including 700,000 tons of food, to Gaza since it launched its military operation following Hamas’ surprise attack in southern Israel on October 7, 2023.
Danon accused the international community of missing the real problem – which he said was Hamas hijacking aid shipments while fellow Palestinians suffer.
“This makes it incredibly difficult to ensure aid reaches its intended recipients,” he said. But Israel remains committed to working with its partners to provide assistance, “even under these dangerous and morally reprehensible circumstances.”
Msuya, the top UN aid official, painted a bleak picture and told the council that this is indeed the case there is hardly any food left in northern Gaza, where an Israeli offensive is underway. From Oct. 2 to Oct. 15, no food came into the north “as a trickle came in,” she said, and “most bakeries will have to close again in the coming days without additional fuel.”
Across Gaza, Msuya said, less than a third of the 286 humanitarian missions coordinated with Israeli authorities in the first two weeks of October were “facilitated without major incidents or delays.”
The level of suffering in Gaza worsens every day, she said, as Israeli bombs continue to fall, heavy fighting continues and “supplies essential for people’s survival and humanitarian aid are blocked at all times.”
Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian UN ambassador, accused Israel of besieging, bombing and starving 400,000 Palestinians in northern Gaza as part of its total war against the Palestinian people.
“These are crimes,” he said. “This is genocide. They must be stopped – and they must be stopped now.”
Thomas-Greenfield, the US ambassador, pointed to some new Israeli commitments since the US warning and two dozen trucks entering northern Gaza for the first time in weeks.
But she said Israel’s progress since last week is “insufficient” and stressed that the country must fulfill its obligations, including opening more border crossings and routes and taking steps “to secure supply routes from armed gangs involved during violent looting.”
“A ‘policy of famine’ in northern Gaza would be horrific and unacceptable and would have implications for international and US law,” the US ambassador warned. “The government of Israel has said that this is not their policy, that food and other essential supplies will not be cut off, and we will monitor whether Israel’s actions on the ground are consistent with this commitment.”
During the council meeting, there were repeated calls from members for action from the UN’s most powerful body to end the more than year-long war in Gaza.
Guyana’s UN Ambassador Carolyn Rodrigues Birkett lamented that 47 Security Council meetings and four legally binding resolutions in the past year, including demands for a ceasefire, “have not had the expected results, and that the situation in Gaza is changing every day deteriorates further. .”
“We cannot allow the moral and legal thread that holds our organization together to be shredded,” she said. “The most fundamental question facing this council is: What are we going to do to turn this tide?”
Thomas-Greenfield urged all council members to support the UN in working with Israel to increase aid deliveries. She said the U.S. focus in the coming months will be on “bringing in humanitarian aid, freeing hostages and ending the conflict.”