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More from the UN on Israel’s ‘dangerous’ plan to replace existing aid routes
As we’ve been reporting, the UN and other humanitarian organisations that work together to deliver aid to Gaza have issued a statement rejecting a plan from Israel to bypass existing aid routes.
The Humanitarian Country Team (HCT) described Israel’s plan as “dangerous”, saying it would drive “civilians into militarised zones to collect rations, threatening lives, including those of humanitarian workers”.
“The design of the plan presented to us will mean large parts of Gaza, including the less mobile and most vulnerable people, will continue to go without supplies,” they said.
It “appears designed to reinforce control over life-sustaining items as a pressure tactic – as part of a military strategy”, the statement said.
Israel’s proposal comes as children are going hungry, kitchens have closed and warehouses stand empty after Israeli authorities “blocked all supplies from entering Gaza” for nine weeks, the statement added.
Israeli siege in Gaza ‘executed’ in part by Egypt: Analyst
Mohamad Elmasry, a Middle East analyst at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, has urged Egypt to take a stronger stance amid the growing humanitarian disaster in Gaza.
In an interview with Al Jazeera, Elmasry said that Egypt has “some control” over its border with Gaza.
“Oftentimes, we skip that fact. They are basically subservient to Israel and the United States. And they have been collaborators with Israel not just now, but for the better part of the last two decades,” he said.
“It’s not just an Israeli siege. It’s executed in part by the Egyptians.”
A convoy of trucks loaded with humanitarian aid supplies for the Gaza Strip waits at Egypt’s New Administrative Capital, about 45km (28 miles) east of Cairo, on February 16
This is not the first time Israel has tried to sidestep aid groups
The UN and other humanitarian aid groups have confirmed that Israeli authorities have shared a proposal that would see Israel take control of handing out rations in “militarised zones” in Gaza.
This is not the first time that Israeli authorities have tried to replace the existing humanitarian infrastructure in Gaza.
In February 2024, more than 100 Palestinians were killed when Israeli soldiers opened fire on desperate Palestinians waiting for trucks delivering food, in what would become known as the “flour massacre”.
The Israeli military acknowledged it had coordinated the convoy with private contractors, rather than the UN or other humanitarian aid organisations with experience delivering food aid safely.
The US military also tried to build a $230m floating pier in May 2024, as an alternative way to deliver aid to Gaza. But the trouble-prone structure was closed months later, after only bringing in the equivalent of about one day’s worth of pre-war food deliveries.
Five people were killed in March 2024 in one of several efforts to deliver food by air drops. Humanitarian groups have said that airdrops are not able to replace the quantities needed to deliver food to more than 2 million people living in Gaza.
