Conditions in Gaza are catastrophic despite renewed aid, UN says

By Michelle Nichols

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) -The situation in Gaza is the worst since the war between Israel and Hamas militants began 19-months ago, the United Nations said on Friday, despite a resumption of limited aid deliveries in the Palestinian enclave where famine looms.

Under growing global pressure, Israel ended an 11-week long blockade on Gaza 12 days ago, allowing limited U.N.-led operations to resume. Then on Monday, a controversial new avenue for aid distribution was also launched - the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, backed by the United States and Israel.

"Any aid that gets into the hands of people who need it is good," U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters in New York. But, he added, the aid deliveries so far overall have had "very, very little impact."

"The catastrophic situation in Gaza is the worst since the war began," he said.

The U.N. and international aid groups have refused to work with the GHF because they say it is not neutral and has a distribution model that forces the displacement of Palestinians.

Israel ultimately wants the U.N. to work through the GHF, which is using private U.S. security and logistics companies to transport aid into Gaza for distribution by civilian teams at so-called secure distribution sites.

However, Israel will allow aid deliveries "for the immediate future" via both the U.N. and the GHF operations, Israel's U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon said this week. GHF said on Friday that it has so far managed to distribute more than 2.1 million meals.

Israel has long accused Hamas of stealing aid, which the group denies.

The war in Gaza has raged since 2023, when Hamas militants killed 1,200 people in Israel and took some 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies, and Israel responded with a military campaign that has killed over 54,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities.

LOOTING, ACCESS

The U.N. says that in the past 12 days it has only managed to transport some 200 truckloads of aid into Gaza, hindered by insecurity and Israeli access restrictions. It was not immediately clear how much of that aid reached those in need. It said some trucks and a World Food Programme warehouse have also been looted by desperate, hungry people.

U.N. officials have also criticized Israeli limitations on what kind of aid they can provide.

"Israeli authorities have not allowed us to bring in a single ready-to-eat meal. The only food permitted has been flour for bakeries. Even if allowed in unlimited quantities, which it hasn't been, it wouldn't amount to a complete diet for anyone," said Eri Kaneko, U.N. humanitarian affairs spokesperson.

Some of recipients of GHF aid said the packages include some rice, flour, canned beans, pasta, olive oil, biscuits and sugar.

Under a complex process, Israel inspects and clears aid shipments, which are then transported to the Palestinian side of the Kerem Shalom crossing. There the aid is offloaded and then reloaded on to other trucks for transport to warehouses in Gaza.

Several hundred more truckloads of aid currently await U.N. collection from the Palestinian side of Kerem Shalom.

"More aid would actually get to the people if you would collect the aid waiting for you by the crossings," COGAT, the Israeli military aid coordination agency, said to the U.N. in a posting on X on Friday.

However, the U.N. said that on Tuesday the Israeli military denied all its requests to access Kerem Shalom to pick up the aid. And on Thursday, when 65 trucks of aid managed to leave the crossing, all but five turned back due to intense fighting.

Five trucks of medical aid managed to reach the warehouses of a field hospital, but "a group  ‎of armed individuals stormed the warehouses...  looting large quantities of ‎ medical equipment, supplies, medicines and nutritional supplements that was intended for  ‎malnourished children," Dujarric said.

CEASEFIRE PROPOSAL

Israel says it has been facilitating all aid deliveries. COGAT said this week that since the war 1.8 million tonnes of aid, including 1.3 million tonnes of food, had reached Gaza.

A U.S. proposal for a 60-day ceasefire in the conflict - accepted by Israel and currently being considered by Hamas - would see humanitarian aid delivered by the United Nations, the Red Crescent and other agreed channels.

During a two-month ceasefire, which ended when Israel resumed its military operation in March, the U.N. said it got 600-700 trucks of aid a day into Gaza. It has stressed then when people know there is a steady flow of aid, the looting subsides.

"To prevent chaos, aid must flow in steadily," Corinne Fleischer, the U.N. World Food Programme's Middle East, North Africa, and Eastern Europe director, posted on X on Thursday.

"When people know food is coming, desperation turns to calm."

(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Don Durfee and Bill Berkrot)