LONDON: Israeli government claims that aid supplied by the UN into Gaza was regularly stolen by Hamas were not substantiated by evidence.
The New York Times said it spoke to two Israeli military officials and two other Israelis with knowledge of the matter on condition of anonymity. They suggested that the UN’s methods for getting aid into the enclave were “largely effective” before Israel sealed off access to the territory in March this year following the collapse of a ceasefire.
Israel and the US backed a new group, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, giving it a near-monopoly on delivering aid supplies into Gaza in May. The GHF has been fiercely criticized for its methods by the UN and other global bodies, as well as national governments including the UK and France, amid reports of mass shootings at its distribution centers and independent claims that famine has subsequently swept the enclave.
Israel, which accused UN employees of taking part in the Oct. 7, 2023 attack on the country, justified the move by saying aid distributed by the UN and other groups was being taken and stockpiled by Hamas, with Benjamin Netanyahu saying in March: “Hamas is currently taking control of all supplies and goods entering Gaza.”
But, the Israeli officials told the NYT, these claims ran counter to evidence the military had suggesting the UN’s methods of aid delivery were robust.
Hamas was able to steal supplies from smaller aid organizations, they said, because they lacked the planning and security capacity of the UN. A Reuters report on Friday said the US government had reached the same conclusion that Israeli claims the UN was failing to deliver aid because of theft by Hamas were untrue.
Israeli military officials met in March with government advisers to express concerns about the GHF’s ability to distribute aid, urging them to allow continued UN access to areas the GHF was failing to sufficiently supply, the sources told the NYT.
This request was denied by the Netanyahu administration, but the government later relented, allowing limited UN access to Gaza after the scale of hunger and the ineffectiveness of the GHF began to become apparent.
Since May 19, the Israeli officials told the NYT, half of aid entering Gaza has been overseen by the UN, which was previously the biggest supplier, and other groups, with the rest overseen by the GHF.
Former UN official Georgios Petropoulos, who helped oversee aid coordination with Israel into Gaza for over a year of the war, said: “For months, we and other organizations were dragged through the mud by accusations that Hamas steals from us.”
He added: “If the UN had been taken at face value months ago, we wouldn’t have wasted all this time and Gazans wouldn’t be starving and being shot at trying to feed their families.”
About 1,100 Palestinians have been shot by Israeli soldiers and private contractors at the four GHF aid distribution centers operating in Gaza, according to local health authorities. Many thousands more are at risk of famine, with doctors in the enclave saying malnutrition is rife, especially among children.
The GHF has also been criticized for failing to provide enough aid at the sites it runs.
A group of more than 100 international organizations have warned of “mass starvation,” and urged Israel to lift its restrictions on them delivering aid into Gaza.
On July 23 a group of 28 national governments, including the UK, France and Canada, as well as the EU, signed a statement condemning what they called the “drip-feeding of aid” into Gaza.
Since being permitted access in May, the UN says Israel has also failed to provide enough safe entry routes into Gaza for it to deliver aid.
The Israeli government has accused the UN of not collecting aid supplies based near a border crossing to send into Gaza as a reason for the lack of supplies into the territory.
Earlier this week it refused to extend the visa of senior UN official Jonathan Whittall, who oversees humanitarian affairs in Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank, over claims he “spread lies about Israel.”
In a statement, the Israeli military said it was “well documented” that Hamas “exploited humanitarian aid to fund terrorist activities.”
Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer claimed this week that there was “no famine caused by Israel” in Gaza, blaming Hamas and the UN for food shortages.
Almost 62,000 Palestinians have been killed since Israel began operations in Gaza in October 2023. Many thousands more have been wounded, with millions displaced, lacking access to clean water, food, medical aid and shelter.
