The United Nations and its agencies warn that Israel’s proposed aid plan in Gaza could exacerbate the ongoing humanitarian crisis, increasing displacement and violating humanitarian standards.
The United Nations has raised concerns that Israel is using aid in Gaza as a means to force Palestinians to flee, particularly from the northern areas to the south, while stressing that there has been no failure in aid distribution.
However, basic commodities have seen what some have described as astronomical price increases.
This was revealed through statements from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), with UN officials commenting on Israel’s aid distribution plan in Gaza.
‘Increasing Ongoing Suffering’
Speaking at a press conference in Geneva, James Elder, spokesman for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), explained that Israel’s plan would likely worsen the suffering of children and families in Gaza.
“After careful analysis, it appears the design of the plan presented by Israel to the humanitarian community will increase ongoing suffering of children and families in the Gaza Strip,” Elder said.
"After careful analysis, it appears the design of the plan presented by Israel to the humanitarian community will increase ongoing suffering." – @UNICEF
"We have more than 3,000 trucks of aid stuck outside Gaza." – @UNRWA
"We have not seen any aid diversion." – @WHO pic.twitter.com/MZZZjWPbSN
— United Nations Geneva (@UNGeneva) May 9, 2025
He expressed concern about the deployment of technology, which he said was being used for intelligence and military purposes, thus breaching humanitarian ethics. “We are very concerned about the proposal to use facial recognition as a precondition to access aid. It’s against all humanitarian principles to screen and monitor beneficiaries for intelligence and military purposes,” Elder said.
Additionally, the plan would deny aid to vulnerable groups unable to access military-controlled zones, putting them and their families at risk of being caught in the crossfire as they travel between areas.
“It’s dangerous to civilians to go into militarized zones to collect rations. It further entrenches forced displacement for political and military purposes, and humanitarian aid should never be used as a bargaining chip,” he said.
“The most vulnerable people, the elderly, children with disabilities, sick and wounded who cannot travel to these designated zones will face horrendous challenges in getting aid,” Elder stated.
Elder also criticized the plan’s proposal to allow only 60 aid trucks to enter Gaza daily, a fraction of the number that had been permitted during the ceasefire.
“According to the plan, as we’ve seen it, there will only be 60 trucks delivering aid to the Gaza Strip every day. This is one tenth of what was being delivered during the ceasefire,” he explained.
Our latest on the situation in📍#Gaza and the #WestBank:
🔹Humanitarian aid and supplies have not entered the Gaza Strip for over nine weeks now.
🔹On 6 May in Gaza, another UNRWA school-turned-shelter has been hit twice by Israeli Forces, resulting in the reported killing of… pic.twitter.com/2U4hf65hzu
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) May 9, 2025
“It’s not nearly enough to meet the needs of 1.1 million children, 2.1 million people. So, civilians must not be forced to flee again, and the use of humanitarian aid as bait to force displacement, especially from the north to the south, will create this impossible choice between displacement and death,” Elder emphasized.
‘Clock is Ticking’
For her part, Juliette Touma, Director of Media and Communications at UNRWA, stated that the agency has successfully managed the aid it brought into Gaza, ensuring it reached its intended recipients without diversion.
“UNRWA alone, we have over 3,000 trucks of aid that are stuck outside Gaza. And that’s a really big dollar figure, right, that is going to waste. So instead of food going to children or medicine going to chronic patients, that’s likely going to be wasted.”
According to Touma “the clock is ticking. The gates must reopen, the siege must be lifted as soon as possible”.
Touma affirmed that UNRWA had been effective in delivering aid and managing shelters for displaced families, including those at the Abu Hamisa School, which was bombed earlier, killing at least 30 people, including children.
Five Members of One Family Killed as Israel Bombs Displaced Palestinians in Gaza
Ongoing Genocide
Since Israel’s reneging on the ceasefire on March 18, it has killed and wounded thousands of Palestinians throughout the Gaza Strip through a bloody and ongoing aerial bombardment.
On October 7, 2023, following a Palestinian Resistance operation in southern Israel, the Israeli military launched a genocidal war against the Palestinians, killing over 52,000, wounding more than 118,000, with over 14,000 still missing.
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Despite habitual condemnation by many countries around the world of the Israeli genocide, little has been done to hold Israel accountable.
Israel is currently under investigation for the crime of genocide by the International Court of Justice, while accused war criminals — including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — are now officially wanted by the International Criminal Court.
The Israeli genocide has been largely defended, supported, and financed by Washington and a few other Western powers.
(PC, AJA)
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