‘Displacement and Death’ – UN Officials Slam Israel’s Gaza Aid Plan

May 9, 2025 News
All children under five in Gaza are at risk of severe malnutrition and preventable death. (Photo: via Eye on Palestine)

By Palestine Chronicle Staff  

The Gaza Strip has been under a complete aid blockade imposed by Israel for more than two months, exacerbating an already catastrophic humanitarian situation.

​​UN officials have strongly criticized Israel’s aid distribution plan for Gaza, warning that it could exacerbate civilian suffering and fail to meet basic humanitarian standards.

“After careful analysis, it appears the design of the plan presented by Israel to the humanitarian community will increase ongoing suffering,” James Elder, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) spokesperson, told journalists at a press conference in Geneva on Friday.

The Israeli proposal to create a handful of aid hubs exclusively in the south of the enclave would create an “impossible choice between displacement and death,” Elder stated.

The plan “contravenes basic humanitarian principles” and appears designed to “reinforce control over life-sustaining items as a pressure tactic,” he said.

The Gaza Strip has been under a complete aid blockade imposed by Israel for more than two months, exacerbating an already catastrophic humanitarian situation.

‘Only Bombs’ Entering Gaza

Elder pointed out that the recent ceasefire had meant a huge improvement in the nutritional situation of girls and boys, with food in the markets, repaired water systems, access to health care, health facilities and medicines.

Now, “all of this has been blocked. The only thing entering Gaza right now is bombs,” Elder stressed.

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He explained that “It’s dangerous to ask civilians to go into militarized zones to collect rations, (as) it further entrenches forced displacement for political and military purposes,” adding “humanitarian aid should never be used as a bargaining chip.”

The most vulnerable people, the elderly, children with disabilities, sick and wounded who cannot travel to the designated zones would face “horrendous challenges” in getting aid, Elder said.

Children ‘Likely to Risk Death’

UNICEF was also concerned about family members being separated while trying to get aid from five locations, all located in the south, in a territory that lacked any safety due to ongoing bombardments, he explained.

“More children are likely to suffer and risk death and injury as a consequence of this plan. It contravenes basic humanitarian principles, it appears designed to reinforce control over life-sustaining items as a pressure tactic,” Elder stressed.

“There is a simple alternative: lift the blockade, let humanitarian aid in, and save lives,” he stated.

Use of Facial Recognition

The UNICEF official also said the proposal to use facial recognition as a precondition to access aid was a concern, as this is “against all humanitarian principles to screen and monitor beneficiaries for intelligence and military purposes.”

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“According to the plan, as we have seen it, there would only be 60 trucks delivering aid to the Gaza Strip every day. This is one-tenth of what was being delivered during the ceasefire,” adding “it’s not nearly enough to meet the needs of 1.1 million children, and 2.1 million people.”

He emphasized that “civilians must not be forced to flee again and the use of humanitarian aid as a bait to force displacement, especially from the north to south, would create the impossible choice between displacement and death.”

Concerns ‘Not Addressed’

Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), echoed UNICEF’s concerns, saying ongoing negotiations with Israeli officials have failed to resolve key issues, Anadolu reported.

“We’ve had multiple meetings in recent weeks, continuous contacts with Israeli officials to reconcile their concerns with ours,” Laerke said. “Those concerns that we have raised have not been met, have not been addressed.”

He said that the “applied modality as presented to us does not meet the minimum bar for principal humanitarian support,” and warned that under the current plan, the UN would be unable to resume life-saving operations on the required scale.

“The current shape that we have been briefed about by them would not allow us to resume life-saving activities at the scale that was possible prior to the total blockade of Gaza,” he said.

Last week, the Israeli plan was presented orally to UN agencies and major aid organizations.

‘Impossible to Replace UNRWA’

Juliette Touma, Director of Communications for the UN Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), speaking from Amman, said “Families in Gaza were being bombed, children were being burned alive and people were starving.”

“Hunger was spreading”, she stated, along with an increased number of children with malnutrition.

She said that UNRWA teams inside Gaza warn that the situation is desperate.

“Even those [food] lines are now gone because food is running out,” Touma stated.

Responding to questions from the media regarding Israel’s aid plan, Touma said it  “is impossible to replace UNRWA in a place like Gaza.”

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“We are the largest humanitarian organization, we have the largest reach, … with more than 10,000 people” working across the Gaza Strip delivering supplies and managing shelters for the displaced families.

“It is very difficult to imagine any humanitarian operation without UNRWA,” Touma stressed.

(PC, Anadolu)

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