The United Nations stated on Thursday that it could not confirm the number of aid trucks waiting for distribution at Gaza’s border crossings due to Israel’s refusal to grant its personnel access to the area.
Mounting international outrage continues over the worsening humanitarian crisis affecting more than two million Palestinians in Gaza. Over 100 aid and human rights organisations have warned that mass starvation is taking hold across the territory.
While the Israeli military insisted on Wednesday that it was not preventing humanitarian assistance from entering Gaza, it claimed around 950 truckloads of aid were sitting on the Palestinian side of the border, awaiting collection and delivery by international agencies.
However, Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said Israel had consistently denied the UN access to the border crossings, which are classified as militarised zones.
“Despite our repeated requests, Israel has not allowed the UN to be present at the crossings,” Laerke told AFP. “We therefore cannot verify the amount of supplies currently at the crossing.”
Laerke explained that distributing aid in Gaza required several layers of authorisation from Israeli authorities. The first is to get aid across from Israel into Gaza, with trucks returning afterwards. The second involves separate approval to dispatch vehicles from within Gaza to retrieve the goods from the border.
He stressed that the issue was not limited to occasional denials of requests to collect supplies. “As the occupying power and a party to the conflict, Israel must enable humanitarian efforts all the way through to those who rely on the aid to survive,” he said.
This obligation, he added, goes beyond basic permission. Israel must ensure that trucks are given clearance without unnecessary delays, allow convoys to use multiple, secure routes, instruct military personnel to avoid interfering with aid movements, and strictly prohibit any firing on civilians along these paths.
“Without these full conditions being met, it is impossible to safely and effectively deliver aid at the necessary scale,” Laerke explained. “Even when missions are approved, they are frequently obstructed on the ground.”
Following the collapse of negotiations to extend a six-week truce, Israel imposed a total blockade on Gaza on March 2, halting all entry of supplies. Limited truck access only resumed in late May.
