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‘Not sticking around to see who’s firing’: UN cancels food trucks in Rafah
By Samy Magdy
Cairo: The United Nations has suspended food distribution in the southern Gaza city of Rafah due to a lack of supplies and an untenable security situation caused by Israel’s expanding military operation. It warned that humanitarian operations across the territory were nearing collapse.
The humanitarian crisis has escalated over the past two weeks since Israel launched an incursion into Rafah that closed a vital border crossing, vowing to root out Hamas fighters. The fighting sent hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fleeing out of Rafah, many of whom were displaced earlier in the war.
Palestinians distribute food aid that entered the southern Gaza Strip through the UN World Food Program in the Wadi Gaza area on Saturday.Credit: Bloomberg
The UN agency helping Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, reported that its distribution centre and the UN World Food Program’s warehouses in Rafah were “now inaccessible due to ongoing military operations,” UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
When asked if he was referring to Israeli military operations, Dujarric said he spoke to a colleague at UNRWA just before the briefing in New York and “they’re not sticking around to see who’s doing the firing.”
“It’s an active combat zone. Bullets are flying, so not to sound glib, so they have no access to those areas. But it is clear ... that the parties who are in conflict are fighting,” Dujarric said.
Asked about the ramifications of suspending aid, he said simply: “People don’t eat”.
The US military finished installing the floating pier last week.Credit: AP
Edem Wosornu, the UN humanitarian office’s operations director, told the UN Security Council on Monday that the Rafah crossing has remained closed and inaccessible for humanitarian aid and fuel deliveries since May 17.
“Around 82,000 metric tonnes of supplies are stranded on the Egypt side of the crossing. Food there is spoiling, and medicines are expiring,” she said.
The WFP said the new $US320 million ($480 million) pier project for delivering aid to northern Gaza may also fail unless Israel starts ensuring the conditions the humanitarian groups need to operate safely. The operation was halted for at least two days after crowds looted aid trucks coming from the port and one Palestinian man was killed.
Most of the trucks in an aid convoy were stripped of all their goods on the way to a warehouse in central Gaza, the WFP said. The first aid transported by sea had entered the besieged enclave on Friday.
Trucks loaded with humanitarian aid from the United Arab Emirates and the United States Agency for International Development cross the Trident Pier before entering the beach in Gaza. Much of it did not reach its destination.Credit: USArmy/AP
Only five of the 16 aid trucks that left the secured area on Saturday arrived at the intended warehouse with their cargo intact, another WFP spokesperson, Steve Taravella, told The Associated Press.
“Without sufficient supplies entering Gaza, these issues will continue to surface. Community acceptance and trust that this is not a one-off event are essential for this operation’s success,” Taravella said in an email. “We have raised this issue with the relevant parties and reiterated our request for alternative roads to facilitate aid delivery. Unless we receive the necessary clearance and coordination to use additional routes, this operation may not be successful.”
The Pentagon said movement of aid from the secured area at the port resumed on Tuesday, but the UN said it was not aware of any deliveries then.
The WFP was now reevaluating logistics and security measures and looking for alternate routes within Gaza, said spokesperson Abeer Etefa. It was working with the US Agency for International Development to coordinate the deliveries.
Authorities have offered limited details of what transpired on Saturday. However, Associated Press video shows Israeli armoured vehicles on a beach road, then aid trucks moving down the road. Civilians watching from the roadside gradually start to clamber on top of the aid trucks, throwing aid down to people below. Numbers of people then appear to overrun the aid trucks and their goods.
At one point, shots crackled, and some of the men in the crowd are shown apparently ducking behind aid boxes for cover. A local morgue later confirmed to the AP that a man had been killed by a rifle shot.
It was not clear who fired the shots. The Israeli military is responsible for security for the aid when it reaches the shore. Once it leaves the secure area at the port, aid groups follow their own security protocols.
Asked about the shooting, the Israeli army told the AP, using the acronym for the Israel Defence Forces: “The IDF is currently focused on eliminating the threat from the terrorist organisation Hamas.”
Dujarric said aid convoys do not travel with armed security.
AP