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Philippe Lazzarini, the head of UNRWA, the main aid provider in Gaza, said the route leading to the Kerem Shalom crossing was too dangerous on the Gaza side. Gunmen robbed nearly 100 trucks traveling the route in mid-November, and he said gangs stole a smaller shipment on Saturday.
Kerem Shalom is the only crossing point between Israel and Gaza that is designated for cargo shipments and is the main artery for aid deliveries since the Rafah crossing point with Egypt was closed in May. Last month, almost two-thirds of all aid entering Gaza came through Kerem Shalom, and in previous months it represented an even higher amount, according to Israeli figures.
In an X post, Lazzarini largely blamed Israel for the disruption of humanitarian operations in Gaza, citing “political decisions to limit the amount of aid,” the lack of safety along aid routes, and Israel’s targeting of the Hamas-run police force, which were previously provides public safety.
There was no immediate comment from Israel on the decision.
Israel claims it is allowing enough aid into Gaza and blames UNRWA and other agencies for failing to deliver it. It accuses UNRWA of allowing Hamas to infiltrate its ranks – charges rejected by the UN agency – and passed a law to cut ties with it last month.
Israeli strikes killed at least six people, including children
Meanwhile, Israeli strikes in Gaza killed at least six people overnight, including two young children aged six and eight in the tent where their family had taken shelter, medical officials said on Sunday.
The strike in the Muwasi area, a sprawling tent camp housing hundreds of thousands of displaced people, also injured the children’s mother and their 8-month-old sister, according to nearby Nasser Hospital. An Associated Press reporter at the hospital saw the bodies.
A separate attack in the southern city of Rafah, on the border with Egypt, killed four men, according to hospital records.
The Israeli military said it was not aware of strikes at either location. Israel claims it only targets fighters and tries to avoid harming civilians, but its daily strikes in Gaza often kill women and children.
In a separate development, a projectile fired by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen set off air raid sirens in central Israel. The Israeli army said it intercepted the projectile before it entered Israeli territory. The Houthis said they fired a ballistic missile at the northern Israeli city of Haifa.
A former defense minister has accused Israel of war crimes
A former senior Israeli general and defense minister has accused the government of ethnic cleansing in northern Gaza, where Israeli forces have been waging the latest in a series of offensives against Hamas since early October.
The army has sealed off the northern towns of Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya and the Jabalia refugee camp and has allowed almost no humanitarian aid to enter. Tens of thousands of people have fled, while the UN estimates that up to 75,000 remain.
Moshe Ya’alon, who served as defense minister under Benjamin Netanyahu before stepping down in 2016. and become a fierce critic of the prime minister, said the current far-right government was determined to “occupy, annex, ethnically cleanse”.
Pressed by an interviewer in a local news bulletin on Saturday, he said: “There is no Beit Lahiya. There is no Beit Hanun. (They) are operating now in Jabalia and (they) are actually clearing the area of the Arabs.”
Ya’alon doubled down on the remarks Sunday in an interview with Israel Radio, saying “war crimes are being committed here.”
Netanyahu’s Likud party criticized his previous remarks, accusing him of making “false statements” that were “a reward for the International Criminal Court and the Israel-hating camp.”
The ICC issued arrest warrants against Netanyahu, another former defense minister, Yoav Galant, and a Hamas commander, charging them with crimes against humanity. The International Court of Justice is investigating allegations of genocide against Israel.
Israel denies the charges and says both courts are biased against it.
Israel says Gaza ceasefire talks resume ‘behind the scenes’
The Gaza war began when Hamas-led militants invaded southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking about 250 people hostage. About 100 prisoners are still being held in Gaza, about two-thirds of whom are believed to be alive.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 44,429 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which did not say how many of the dead were fighters. Israel claims to have killed over 17,000 fighters without providing evidence.
The war destroyed vast areas of the coastal enclave and displaced 90 percent of the population of 2.3 million, often multiple times.
Israel reached a ceasefire with Lebanese Hezbollah militants last week that has largely held, but that deal, brokered by the United States and France, does not affect the ongoing war in Gaza. Iran, which backs Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis and armed groups in Syria and Iraq, has exchanged fire with Israel twice this year.
Images capture the exact moment an Israeli rocket hits a building in Beirut
The United States, Qatar and Egypt have spent much of the past year trying to broker a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of the remaining hostages, but those efforts stalled as Israel rejected Hamas’ demand for a full withdrawal from the territory. The Biden administration has said it will make another push for a deal in its final weeks in office.
“There are negotiations going on behind the scenes and this can be done,” Israel’s mostly ceremonial President Isaac Herzog said on Sunday.
He spoke after meeting with Yael Alexander, whose son, Israeli-American Edan Alexander, is being held by Hamas and appeared in a recent video released by the extremists.
US President-elect Donald Trump has promised to end wars in the Middle East, without saying how. He was a staunch defender of Israel and its policies towards the Palestinians during his previous term.
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