UN confirms 88% of aid trucks in Gaza looted before reaching destination
The United Nations published data on Tuesday showing that 88.7% of aid trucks collected by the international organisation in the Gaza Strip in recent months were intercepted before reaching their destination.
Palestinian trucks loaded with aid flow into Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing as part of the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip, east of the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Photo by Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90.
According to the U.N., it collected a total of 2,604 trucks between May 19 and Aug. 5 that entered Gaza from Israel, but 2,309 of these were intercepted “peacefully” by Arab mobs or forcefully by armed terrorists during transit in the Strip.
The U.N. Office for Project Services figures showed that over the past two months, the amount of seized humanitarian aid increased even further, with 90.7% of trucks intercepted in June and 94% in July.
The U.N. data seemed to contradict claims by its own under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, Tom Fletcher, who told the “Piers Morgan Uncensored” talk show on July 29 that “the vast, vast majority of the aid that we get in gets to civilians.”
Israel and the United States in May installed a new organisation, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, to handle food aid deliveries so that it directly reaches Palestinian civilians and bypasses the United Nations and Hamas.
The organisation announced on Friday that it had reached the milestone of 100 million total meals delivered to Palestinian noncombatants in the Strip since beginning operations roughly two months prior.
The Israel Defence Forces on July 27 announced several humanitarian measures aimed at refuting “the false claim of deliberate starvation” in the coastal enclave, including “tactical pauses” in the war on Hamas.
While emphasising that “combat operations have not ceased” across the Strip, the IDF said pauses in military activities between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. would be instituted in Al-Mawasi, Deir al-Balah and Gaza City.
Humanitarian corridors have been established to enable the movement of aid convoys, including those of the United Nations, delivering food to Palestinians. The secure routes will remain in place permanently from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m.
The IDF said it was prepared to expand the scale of its humanitarian response “as required.” More than 23,000 tons of humanitarian aid entered Gaza last week, with 1,200 trucks having been successfully collected by the United Nations and international organisations.
JNS
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