No humanitarian aid has been distributed yet in the Gaza Strip, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Tuesday (May 20), despite more supplies being dropped off on the Palestinian side of the Kerem Shalom crossing.
“Israeli authorities are requiring us to offload supplies on the Palestinian side of Kerem Shalom crossing and reload them separately once they secure our team’s access from inside the Gaza Strip,” Dujarric told reporters.
“Today, one of our teams waited several hours for the Israeli green light to access the Kerem Shalom area and collect the nutrition supplies. Unfortunately, they were not able to bring those supplies into our warehouse,” he said.
Earlier on Tuesday, a spokesperson for the UN humanitarian office in Geneva said Israel had given permission for about 100 aid trucks to enter Gaza.
UN aid chief Tom Fletcher said on Monday the initial amount of aid approved by Israel was “a drop in the ocean”.
Israel says it plans to intensify military operations against Hamas, to control the whole of Gaza, already devastated by an Israeli air and ground war since Hamas’ cross-border attack on Israeli communities in October 2023.
Israel has said its blockade is aimed in part at preventing Palestinian militants from diverting and seizing aid supplies. Hamas has denied doing so.
A US-backed group plans to start work in the Gaza Strip by the end of May, with a new model of aid distribution in the Palestinian enclave. But the United Nations says the plan is not impartial or neutral, and it will not be involved.
Malnutrition rates in the densely populated territory have risen during the Israeli blockade and could worsen if food shortages continue, a health official at the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA said in Geneva on Tuesday.
