UNRWA pauses aid deliveries to Gaza through key crossing, blaming Israel for looting

The United Nations’ main agency serving Palestinians said it was pausing its aid shipments through a border crossing into southern Gaza in the wake of repeated attacks on the aid trucks by armed gangs.

The announcement came one day after another aid agency, World Central Kitchen, said three of its workers were killed in an Israeli strike. Israel said it was targeting a Hamas fighter among the workers who participated in the terror group’s attack on Oct. 7, 2023.

Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of the U.N. agency known as UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, said in a statement on Sunday that shipments through the crossing, known as Kerem Shalom, had become “unnecessarily impossible.” He cited obstructive policies from Israeli authorities, political restrictions on the flow of aid, unsafe routes and the “targeting of local police.” He added that the aid convoys were stolen by “armed gangs” twice in the past month, including a large convoy that was targeted on Nov. 16.

“The road out of this crossing has not been safe for months,” Lazzarini said. He did not say who carried out the looting, but said that responsibility was with Israel “as the occupying power.” The statement did not mention Hamas, the terror group that governed Gaza from 2007 until it invaded Israel on Oct. 7, prompting an Israeli invasion.

Israel has since taken control of much of the enclave and has destroyed much of its infrastructure in the fighting. Responding to the UNRWA statement, Israel said that the pause at Kerem Shalom would not meaningfully reduce the flow of aid, as only 7% of humanitarian assistance entering Gaza last month was coordinated by UNRWA.

“There are dozens of humanitarian organizations operating in the Gaza Strip that continue to take a growing role in delivering humanitarian aid to the people who need it,” Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories, or COGAT, the Israeli military unit that handles Palestinian civilian affairs, said on X, adding that more than 1,000 trucks distributed aid into Gaza last week.

“We will continue to work with the international community to increase the amount of aid making its way into Gaza, through the Kerem Shalom Crossing as well as the other 4 crossings between Israel and Gaza,” COGAT said.

In a follow-up post, the Israeli agency placed blame for the gang activity on Hamas, saying the terror group was attempting to “abuse the humanitarian infrastructure in the Gaza Strip to further its genocidal agenda,” and demanded international groups screen their employees for ties to terror groups. Israel has accused a portion of UNRWA staffers of being affiliated with Hamas.

Friction between UNRWA and Israel far predates the Oct. 7 attack but has escalated during the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. Last month, a U.N. spokesperson said that, while Israel was responsible for U.N. security in Gaza, the U.N. would not accept Israeli security support in the territory because “we would be an even greater target if we were surrounded by armed soldiers.”

UNRWA operates schools and provides health and civil services to Palestinians. It is a major employer in Palestinian areas and operates in Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, Jordan and Syria.

The agency’s supporters argue that it is a crucial provider of humanitarian aid, especially during the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. But Israeli leaders have long criticized UNRWA, and accused it of teaching incitement in schools and abetting terror groups.

Unlike other refugee groups, the descendants of Palestinians who left or were expelled from Israel in 1948 are considered refugees by the U.N. UNRWA’s critics argue that that designation plays a central role in perpetuating the conflict. The Palestinians are also the only group with a dedicated U.N. refugee agency; all others are served by a separate U.N. body.

Since Oct. 7, Israeli authorities have accused UNRWA staffers of participating in Hamas atrocities and has said that the agency’s sprawling staff includes Hamas members. In February, the IDF said it uncovered a Hamas center underneath, and connected to, UNRWA’s Gaza headquarters.

In October, Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, passed two bills targeting UNRWA. One of the bills prohibits all UNRWA activities within Israel, and the other bars Israeli authorities from contact with the U.N. agency.

On Saturday, prior to the UNRWA statement, World Central Kitchen said one of its vehicles was hit by an Israeli airstrike and that it was pausing its activities in the territory. It told the New York Times three of its contractors had been killed.

The IDF said a terrorist who attacked Kibbutz Nir Oz in the Oct. 7 invasion, and who also worked for World Central Kitchen, was in the vehicle, which was unmarked and traveling on a route that had not been coordinated for aid delivery.

World Central Kitchen said it “had no knowledge that any individual in the vehicle had alleged ties to the October 7th Hamas attack.”

The strike is the second time World Central Kitchen staffers have been killed. In April, an Israeli strike killed seven of the group’s staffers in Gaza, in an incident Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called “tragic” and “unintentional.”