Israel blames U.N. for Gaza aid crisis

“It is unfortunately UNRWA and others, and the World Food Program is another one, who simply spend their time perpetuating this conflict rather than pulling their finger out and actually doing the job which they were designed to do. Stop blaming Israel,” he said.

The remarks are part of a chorus of attacks on the United Nations and its secretary general by Israeli officials in recent weeks. Mencer added that “we must stop this halo around the United Nations of their being a force for good. Unfortunately, in many, many cases, they are not a force for good.”

But aid groups say it has become increasingly dangerous and difficult to distribute aid in Gaza amid the ongoing military operation in the south, shortages of vehicles and fuel, and an increase in attacks against aid trucks by desperate civilians and criminal gangs. The United Nations has consistently accused Israel of holding up deliveries through onerous checks and restrictions, as well as lack of coordination with their agencies.

The WFP on Tuesday backed the findings of the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis, which said a “high risk” of famine “persists as long as conflict continues, and humanitarian access is restricted.”

The IPC analysis found that about 500,000 Palestinians are on the brink of starvation. The WFP said the IPC findings aligned with its own concerns “about the ongoing levels of severe hunger across the Gaza Strip.”

The situation has become “increasingly intolerable,” U.N. spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said in a news briefing Tuesday. More than 200 humanitarian workers have been killed since the war broke out, and humanitarian operations “have repeatedly been in the crosshairs in Gaza,” he said.

Mencer in the briefing Wednesday implied without providing evidence that “many” of the aid workers who have been killed were working with militant groups in Gaza.

Israel has repeatedly stressed that it is allowing hundreds of trucks to enter southern Gaza daily. In a tweet Tuesday, Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) claimed there were “no looting or security concerns, only a lack of motivation.” But aid workers say the security situation has impeded their efforts to actually distribute the aid.

U.N. officials made contact with Israeli authorities in recent days to demand that they better protect aid workers and facilitate the entry of more humanitarian aid into Gaza, Dujarric said.

The U.N. undersecretary general for safety and security, Gilles Michaud,…