Lack of security after Gaza truce could make aid surge difficult, UN says

By Michelle Nichols

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - A short-term surge of aid deliveries into Gaza after a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas will be difficult if the deal does not cover security arrangements in the enclave, a senior U.N. official said on Wednesday.

Negotiators reached a deal on Wednesday for a ceasefire, an official briefed on the negotiations told Reuters, after 15 months of conflict. It would include a significant increase of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, but it was unclear if any agreement would cover security arrangements.

"Security is not (the responsibility of) the humanitarians. And it's a very chaotic environment. The risk is that with a vacuum it gets even more chaotic," a senior U.N. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters. "Short of any arrangement, it will be very difficult to surge deliveries in the short term."

The United Nations has long described its humanitarian operation as opportunistic - facing problems with Israel's military operation, access restrictions by Israel into and throughout Gaza and more recently looting by armed gangs.

"The U.N. is committed to delivering humanitarian assistance during the ceasefire, just as we were during the period of active hostilities," said Eri Kaneko, spokesperson for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

"The removal of the various impediments the U.N. has been facing during the last year – which include restrictions on the entry of goods; the lack of safety and security; the breakdown of law and order; and the lack of fuel – is a must," she said.

The U.N. has been working with partners to develop a coordinated plan to scale up operations, Kaneko said.

600 TRUCKS A DAY

The ceasefire deal - according to the official briefed on talks - requires 600 truckloads of aid to be allowed into Gaza every day of the initial six-week ceasefire, including 50 carrying fuel. Half of the 600 aid trucks would be delivered to Gaza's north, where experts have warned famine is imminent.

"We are well-prepared, and you can count on us to continue to be ambitious and creative," said the U.N. official, speaking shortly before the deal was agreed. "But the issue is and will be the operating environment inside Gaza."

For more than a year, the U.N. has warned that famine looms over Gaza. Israel says there is no aid shortage - citing more than a million tons of deliveries. It accuses Hamas of stealing aid, which Hamas denies, instead blaming Israel for shortages.

"If the deal doesn't provide any agreement on security arrangements, it will be very difficult to surge assistance," said the official, adding that there would also be a risk that law and order would further deteriorate in the short term.

The United Nations said in June that it was Israel's responsibility - as the occupying power in the Gaza Strip - to restore public order and safety in the Palestinian territory so aid can be delivered.

Hamas came to power in Gaza in 2006 after Israeli soldiers and settlers withdrew in 2005, but the enclave is still deemed as Israeli-occupied territory by the United Nations. Israel controls access to Gaza.

The current war was triggered on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas killed 1,200 people in southern Israel, and took some 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. Since then, more than 46,000 Palestinians have been killed, Israel has laid much of Gaza to waste and the enclave's prewar population of 2.3 million people has been displaced multiple times, aid agencies say.

(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Jasper Ward and Rod Nickel)