UN condemns Israel’s continued total blockade of aid, warns of deepening humanitarian crisis – JURIST

The UN Humanitarian Country Team on Sunday condemned Israel’s continuing border closures for a ninth consecutive week, which have prevented all humanitarian aid deliveries. The team  alleged that Israel militarised all aid distribution rather facilitating it through humanitarian organisations such as the UN.

The team also highlighted how the humanitarian situation has exponentially worsened over the course of the nine weeks since the ban was first established by Israeli authorities. They also claim that the proposals of Israel “‘contravene fundamental humanitarian principles’ and deepen the suffering of civilians”, as the border closure has caused all bakeries and community kitchens to shut down and shortage of hospital resources.

This condemnation has been accompanied by recent statements made by UN Relief Chief Tom Fletcher who called Israel’s decisions “alarming”. He was further supported by other Arab states including Egypt, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. On Saturday, UN Special Rapporteur UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, included EU officials in her own remarks of condemnation and called for their prosecution for complicity in Israeli war crimes. 

A summary report issued by the World Food Programme (WFP) in March further identified drastically increasing food prices of upwards of 200%, compared to prices prior to the blockade. According to WFP, there is an excess of 63,000 metric tonnes of food available for distribution into Gaza, butthe border closure prevents distribution.

This development follows weeklong proceedings at the ICJ, which sought to investigate Israel’s restrictions imposed on humanitarian efforts. The UN statement into this proceeding confirms that “the UN legal counsel insisted on the special protections and immunities of UN agencies and personnel which it needs to implement its mandated activities all over the world, including in the OPT.” UN counsel, Elinor Hammarskjöld, further reiterated “The overarching obligation to administer the territory for the benefit of the local population and ‘to agree to and facilitate relief schemes’.” The results of this advisory hearing are soon to be issued.

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