Israel accuses UN of Gaza aid failures, slams Hamas for spreading 'famine narrative'

Israel on Thursday criticized the United Nations for what it called a "lack of cooperation from the international community," which it argued has contributed to the Gaza aid shortage. It also rejected Hamas’ "famine narrative," saying the terror group is using it as a tactic in ongoing hostage negotiations.

IDF Col. Abdullah Halabi, head of COGAT’s Coordination and Liaison Administration for Gaza, told reporters at the Kerem Shalom Crossing that aid amounting to some 1,000 trucks is piled up inside Gaza, still awaiting collection by the UN and international aid organizations. Despite the criticism, he noted some improvement in recent days.

“We have seen in the last two days a slight improvement in their work, especially in the UN’s position and the UN’s organizations. We invited them here as we have done several times to continue to encourage them, to check together with them what can be done to transfer this aid in,” Halabi stated.

He emphasized that Israel is facilitating the efforts to increase the inflow of humanitarian aid into Gaza.

“We allowed longer work hours, and we took all the necessary steps to allow the international community to bring a very large amount of humanitarian aid into [Gaza], to combat the famine narrative, which Hamas uses to fight against us,” Halabi explained.

“The State of Israel allows the entry of humanitarian aid beyond the standards of international law, without restriction. As long as the international community makes an effort to bring in the aid, we will allow them to bring it in,” he added.

The IDF officer addressed Hamas’ propaganda that seeks to vilify Israel by disseminating the narrative of “famine” in Gaza.

“This campaign is based on lies,” Halabi argued.

“It was created not to help Gaza’s population receive the aid, but primarily to improve Hamas’s standings in the [hostage] negotiations that are taking place over the last few days, and it is using different means, in particular the famine narrative, to improve their standings,” he explained.

Halabi assessed that the reported Hamas attacks on the Israeli- and American-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) aim "to create chaos and portray the humanitarian situation as worse than it is."

The UN claims that over 1,000 Gazans have been killed at aid distribution centers since May, including at sites operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). Israel responded by arguing that the fatality figures are exaggerated and emphasized that multiple Gazans have testified that Hamas terrorists killed many civilians seeking aid.

“We, the army and COGAT, will continue doing whatever is possible and necessary, improve the relevant conditions, strengthen our relationship with the international community and with the different humanitarian organizations, and help them to allow the entry of aid,” Halabi continued.

He concluded by vowing that Israel would continue to fight Hamas and not permit the terror group from regaining strength by exploiting international aid.

“We are fighting Hamas, we will continue to fight Hamas. We will not allow a reality in which Hamas uses anything, whether it is humanitarian aid or any other means, to strengthen its interests or itself.”

Jens Laerke, spokesman for the UN humanitarian agency OCHA, responded to the Israeli criticism.

“Despite our repeated requests, Israel has not allowed the UN to be present at the crossings, which are militarized areas,” Laerke told the news agency AFP.

“We therefore cannot verify the amount of supplies currently at the crossing,” the UN official continued.

He also claimed that Israel as the “occupying power” is responsible for facilitating the international aid into Gaza.

“Israel – as the occupying power and a party to the conflict – must facilitate humanitarian operations all the way till it reaches people who need it to survive.”

However, the issue of the UN’s inability to fulfill its commitments in Gaza is not new. In December 2023, Israeli President Isaac Herzog blasted the UN for failing to manage the inflow of aid into Gaza.

“Unfortunately, due to the utter failure of the UN in its work with other partners in the region, they have been unable to bring in more than 125 trucks [of aid] a day,” Herzog stated.

“Today it is possible to provide three times the amount of humanitarian aid to Gaza if the UN – instead of complaining all day – would do its job,” the president added.

Herzog who visited IDF troops in Gaza on Wednesday, rejected the international starvation allegations against Israel.

“What is absolutely clear is that the true obstacle to humanitarian relief is Hamas,” Herzog stated.

“Huge quantities of aid are flowing in – in conjunction with UN and EU efforts agreed by Israel,” he added.