UN food agency halts deliveries amid Israeli gunfire and a “collapse of civil order” in northern Gaza.
The United Nations food agency has suspended aid deliveries to northern Gaza, citing Israeli gunfire as well as “complete chaos and violence due to the collapse of civil order” in the area.
Tuesday's latest suspension raises fears of famine in northern Gaza, which has been almost completely cut off from aid since late October amid Israel's devastating war against the enclave.
The UN World Food Program (WFP) said the decision “has not been taken lightly” as it risks people dying of hunger. But he said “security must be ensured for delivering critical food aid and for the people who receive it.”
The agency said it had first suspended deliveries to the north three weeks ago after an attack hit an aid truck. It attempted to resume deliveries this week, but said convoys on Sunday and Monday were faced with gunfire and crowds of hungry people looting goods and beating a driver.
Footage from the scene, verified by Al Jazeera, shows Palestinians fleeing for cover amid the sound of gunshots and clouds of smoke from smoke bombs.
Witnesses said one man was killed and many others injured in the attacks.
The videos also show Palestinian children picking up spilled flour from the ground after a sack burst.
The WFP, which had previously warned of famine-like conditions affecting 2.3 million people in Gaza, said its teams “witnessed unprecedented levels of desperation” in the north over the past two days.
The agency said it was working to resume deliveries as soon as possible and called for greater security for its staff, as well as “significantly increased volumes of food” and the opening of border points for aid directly into northern Gaza from Israel.
The suspension of aid to the north comes amid a sharp decline in aid trucks entering all of Gaza. Figures from the UN Office of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) show that the average number of aid trucks entering Gaza has fallen from 140 per day in January to 60 per day in February.
Israel – which controls entry points into Gaza – has opened only one crossing into the enclave despite growing international pressure for humanitarian aid, including interim rulings from the International Court of Justice.
UN agencies say cumbersome Israeli procedures have slowed truck crossings, while right-wing Israeli protesters have blocked trucks at the Kerem Shalom entry point in southern Gaza, saying no aid should be given to the Palestinian people. .
When supplies arrive in Gaza, UN staff and aid groups are unable to pick them up at border points due to “lack of security and breakdown of law and order,” according to OCHA spokesperson Eri Kaneko. This includes Israel's targeted killings of Gaza police commanders guarding truck convoys, aid agencies say.
Shane Low, spokesperson for the Norwegian Refugee Council, called the conditions for aid workers in Gaza “unacceptable.”
“In any other context, aid workers would withdraw at this time because it is simply too dangerous,” he told Al Jazeera.
“There is no guarantee of the safety of humanitarian personnel, whether due to Israeli attacks on the convoys, Israeli attacks on the police who are there to protect the convoys and, of course, due to desperation due to the lack of aid that's coming.”
Meanwhile, UNRWA, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, said Israeli authorities have denied 51 percent of planned missions to deliver aid to northern Gaza.
“Food insecurity north of Wadi Gaza has reached an extremely critical state,” he said in a post on X.
🛑 51% of missions planned by @OOPS and humanitarian partners to deliver aid and conduct assessments in northern areas📍#Loop This year the Israeli authorities denied access.
Food insecurity north of Wadi Gaza has reached an extremely critical state #Access denied pic.twitter.com/YeKsZpKh4E
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) February 20, 2024
According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, at least 29,092 Palestinians, most of them women and children, have been killed in Israeli attacks since October 7, when Hamas – which rules Gaza – launched a surprise attack in southern Israel.
Some 1,139 people were killed in Hamas attacks in Israel.
