UN announces suspension of aid to Israel in Gaza Strip without improving security measures

WASHINGTON (AP) — Top U.N. officials have warned Israel that they will halt the world body’s aid efforts in Gaza unless Israel takes urgent steps to better protect humanitarian workers, two U.N. officials said Tuesday. The ultimatum is the latest in a series of U.N. measures calling on Israel to do more to protect aid efforts from attacks by its forces and to stem the growing lawlessness that is hampering humanitarian workers.

In a letter to Israeli officials this month, the UN said Israel must, among other things, provide UN staff with a means of direct communication with Israeli ground forces in the Gaza Strip, the officials said.

They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing negotiations with Israeli officials. The UN officials said there had been no final decision on suspending operations in Gaza and that talks with the Israelis were ongoing.

Israeli military officials did not respond to requests for comment. Israel has previously acknowledged some military strikes against humanitarian workers, including an attack in April that killed seven World Central Kitchen workers, and has denied allegations of further attacks.

For security reasons, the United Nations World Food Programme has already suspended aid deliveries from a pier built in the United States to deliver food and other emergency supplies to Palestinians who are at risk of starvation in the Gaza Strip during the eight-month war between Israel and Hamas.

UN staff and representatives of other aid agencies have complained for months that they have no way of communicating quickly and directly with Israeli forces on the ground. This runs counter to the usual procedures – so-called “conflict avoidance” – used in conflict zones around the world to protect aid workers from attacks by militants.

In its letter to Israeli officials, the UN listed, among other things, the provision of communications and protective equipment for aid workers as obligations that Israel must fulfill so that overall aid operations in the Gaza Strip can continue, the two UN officials say.

The UN announced in April that about 30 humanitarian workers had been killed in the line of duty in Gaza since the war between Israel and Hamas began in October.

The UN and other humanitarian organizations have also complained about the increasing crime in Gaza and have called on Israel to do more to improve the security of its operations against attacks and theft. The lawlessness has prevented the daily truce announced by Israel to allow a new safe corridor for aid deliveries to southern Gaza. Humanitarian officials say groups of armed men regularly block convoys, attack drivers at gunpoint and ransack their cargo.

In addition, “despite conflict, our compound has been hit by rockets,” said Steve Taravella, a spokesman for the World Food Programme, one of the main aid agencies in Gaza. He was not among those who confirmed the UN’s threat to suspend its operations in the entire area. “WFP camps have been caught in the crossfire twice in the last two weeks.”

Humanitarian workers said the situation for civilians and aid workers has worsened since early May, when Israel launched an offensive on the southern town of Rafah, where many aid groups were based. The operation has paralyzed the border crossing that was once the main one for food and other aid.

Aid workers trying to get supplies through the main remaining crossing, Kerem Shalom, face dangers from fighting, damaged roads, unexploded ordnance and Israeli restrictions, including waits of five or more hours a day at checkpoints, Taravella said.

“Restoring order is critical for an effective humanitarian response that meets increasing needs. UN agencies and others need a safe environment to access people and scale up their assistance,” he said.

Israeli officials say the problems in Kerem Shalom are due to inadequate UN logistics.

Separately, the United Nations has also suspended its cooperation with the US-built pier since June 9, a day after the Israeli military used the area around the pier for a hostage rescue in which over 270 Palestinians were killed.

While US and Israeli officials said no part of the pier was used in the attack on the four hostages kidnapped by Hamas, UN officials said any impression in Gaza that the project was used in the Israeli military operation could jeopardise their relief work.

The UN has completed a security assessment of the pier operation following the raid but has not yet made a decision on resuming aid deliveries from the U.S.-built facility, according to a humanitarian official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details that have not yet been publicly disclosed.

Speaking to reporters traveling with a U.S. delegation to Botswana for a meeting of defense ministers on Tuesday, a U.S. Agency for International Development official expressed optimism that aid deliveries from the pier would eventually resume.

“I think it’s a matter of time before the Israeli military and the Israeli government can provide the assurances that the UN is currently demanding in terms of conflict prevention and security,” said Isobel Coleman, deputy director of USAID, who is working with the World Food Programme to distribute aid from the pier.

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AP reporters Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel, and Lolita C. Baldor in Gaborone, Botswana, contributed. Magdy reported from Cairo.