Associated Press photo.
Deir al-Balah/Gaza Strip: Citing threats of armed gangs who looted aid convoys to Gaza, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine informed that it is stopping aid deliveries through the main cargo crossing into the enclave, the Associated Press reported.
The agency blamed Israeli policies for the breakdown of law and order in war-torn-Gaza.
The decision could worsen Gaza's humanitarian crisis as a second cold, rainy winter sets in, with hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in squalid tent camps and reliant on international aid. Experts already warned of famine in the north, which Israeli forces have almost completely isolated since early October.
Philippe Lazzarini, the head of UNRWA, the main aid provider in Gaza, said the route leading to the Kerem Shalom crossing is too dangerous on the Gaza side. Armed men looted nearly 100 trucks on the route in mid-November.
Kerem Shalom is the only crossing between Israel and Gaza that is designed for cargo shipments and has been the main artery for aid since the Rafah crossing with Egypt was shut in May. Last month, nearly two-thirds of aid entering Gaza came through Kerem Shalom, and in previous months it accounted for even more.
In an X post, Lazzarini largely blamed Israel for the breakdown of humanitarian operations in Gaza, citing “political decisions to restrict the amounts of aid,” lack of safety on routes and Israel's targeting of the Hamas-run police force, which previously provided public security.
“Yesterday we had assurances aid would be fine. We tried to move five trucks and they were all taken,” Scott Anderson, director of UNRWA affairs in Gaza, told The Associated Press. “So we've kind of reached a point where it makes no sense to continue to try to move aid if it's just gonna be looted.” He emphasised that there is no systemic diversion of aid in Gaza.