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09 May 2025<\/p>\n
Israel\u2019s aid plan will force Gaza families to choose \u2018between displacement and death\u2019 \u2013 UN humanitarians<\/strong><\/p>\n Israel\u2019s plan to take control of relief assistance in Gaza risks increasing the suffering of families already exhausted by 18 months of war by putting their lives in danger and inciting more displacement, using aid as \u201cbait\u201d, UN humanitarians said on Friday.<\/p>\n UN Children\u2019s Fund (UNICEF) spokesperson James Elder told journalists in Geneva that the Israeli proposal to create a handful of aid hubs exclusively in the south of the Strip would create an \u201cimpossible choice between displacement and death\u201d.<\/p>\n The plan \u201ccontravenes basic humanitarian principles\u201d and appears designed to \u201creinforce control over life-sustaining items as a pressure tactic\u201d, he said. \u201cIt\u2019s dangerous to ask civilians to go into militarized zones to collect rations\u2026 humanitarian aid should never be used as a bargaining chip\u201d.<\/p>\n In addition, Gaza\u2019s most vulnerable individuals – the elderly, children with disabilities, the sick and the wounded who cannot travel to designated distribution zones – will face \u201chorrendous challenges\u201d accessing aid, the UNICEF spokesperson insisted.<\/p>\n The Gaza Strip has been under a complete aid blockade for more than two months and humanitarians have warned repeatedly that food, water, medicines and fuel have been running out.<\/p>\n The Israeli aid distribution plan presented to UN humanitarians envisages only 60 aid trucks per day entering Gaza – \u201cone-tenth of what was being delivered during the ceasefire\u201d between Israel and Hamas which held from 19 January to 18 March, Mr. Elder explained.<\/p>\n \u201cIt’s not nearly enough to meet the needs of 1.1 million children, 2.1 million people,\u201d he insisted. \u201cThere is a simple alternative: lift the blockade, let humanitarian aid in, save lives.\u201d<\/p>\n The UN agency spokesperson also expressed concern that the Israeli plan risks separating family members \u201cwhile they move back and forth to try and get aid\u201d from the designated locations in a territory that \u201clacks any safety\u201d amid ongoing bombardments.<\/p>\n Stressing the success of the UN-led aid scale up during the ceasefire, humanitarian affairs coordination office spokesperson Jens Laerke urged the Israeli authorities to \u201cfacilitate the aid that we and our partners have available just a few kilometres away\u201d just outside Gaza.<\/p>\n UNRWA, the largest aid provider in the Strip, said that the UN agency has \u201cover 3,000 trucks of aid\u201d that are stuck outside Gaza.<\/p>\n Juliette Touma, Director of Communications, deplored the fact that such a \u201cbig dollar figure\u201d was going to waste, when the food could be reaching hungry children and when medicine could be used to treat people with chronic diseases.<\/p>\n \u201cThe clock is ticking. The gates must reopen, the siege must be lifted as soon as possible,\u201d she insisted, while calling for the release of Israeli hostages and a return to a standard flow of humanitarian supplies.<\/p>\n Inside Gaza, aid teams warn that the situation is desperate. \u201cEven those [food] lines are now gone because food is running out,\u201d said UNRWA\u2019s Ms. Touma.<\/p>\n In an update on Thursday, OCHA said that more than 80 community kitchens have been forced to shut since late April, owing to the lack of supplies. This number is rising \u201cby the day\u201d, fuelling \u201cwidespread\u201d hunger in Gaza, the UN aid coordination office said.<\/p>\n Rebutting Israeli allegations that aid reaching Gaza has been diverted by militant groups, both Ms. Touma and UN World Health Organization (WHO) spokesperson Dr. Margaret Harris described \u201cend-to-end\u201d systems put in place to counter this risk.<\/p>\n \u201cOur supplies are reaching the health facilities they\u2019re meant to serve,\u201d said Dr. Harris, adding that the UN health agency had not witnessed any aid diversion within the health care system.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is not about failure of aid delivery within Gaza. It is about not being allowed to bring it in,\u201d Dr. Harris concluded.<\/p>\n In a further note of caution about the Israeli plan, UNICEF\u2019s Mr. Elder insisted that the proposed use of facial recognition as a precondition to access aid ran against all humanitarian principles to \u201cscreen and monitor beneficiaries for intelligence and military purposes\u201d.<\/p>\n