TPC Staff
The Palestine Chronicle / December 3, 2024
UNRWA announced on Sunday that it was halting aid shipments through the Israeli-controlled crossing due to security concerns.
The Gaza Government Media Office has urged the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) to reconsider its decision to suspend humanitarian aid deliveries to Gaza via the Karam Abu Salem (Karem Shalom) border crossing.
The Office called on UNRWA to increase aid delivery and called it to reverse its “shocking and unexpected decision.”
“The Palestinian people are in dire need of this assistance, particularly as the Israeli occupation continues using starvation as a weapon of war against civilians, leading to widespread famine in Gaza—an act condemned by all international and humanitarian laws,” the statement read.
UNRWA announced on Sunday that it was halting aid shipments through the Israeli-controlled crossing due to security concerns.
Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini stated, “We are pausing the delivery of aid through Kerem Shalom, the main crossing point for humanitarian aid into Gaza. The road out of this crossing has not been safe for months.”
Lazzarini also highlighted a troubling incident on November 16 when armed gangs stole a large convoy of aid trucks, adding, “on Saturday, we tried to bring in a few food trucks on the same route. They were all taken.”
The Gaza government accused Israel of enabling the theft of aid shipments by armed groups, effectively blocking essential supplies from reaching those in need.
In a statement on Monday, the media office said Israeli forces were complicit in the looting, suggesting a deliberate effort to worsen the humanitarian crisis.
Reports from the Israeli newspaper Haaretz supported these accusations, revealing that armed groups in Gaza had stolen aid shipments with Israeli forces allegedly turning a blind eye.
International relief sources cited in the report stated that in some instances, Israeli forces seized the supplies and stored them in military warehouses.
The Gaza government urged UNRWA to find alternative, safer routes for aid deliveries, stressing the dire humanitarian situation, particularly the acute food shortages in northern Gaza.
It emphasized the urgent need to address the worsening hunger crisis in the blockaded territory, home to nearly 2.3 million Palestinians.
Gaza’s authorities also accused Israel, along with the United States and European countries such as the UK, Germany, and France, of aiding and abetting war crimes by providing military and logistical support to Israel.
Ongoing genocide
Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza.
Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 44,500 Palestinians have been killed, and 105,454 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7, 2023.
Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Later in the war, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians began moving from the south to central Gaza in a constant search for safety.
