IDF refutes claim of food shortage in Gaza, says problem with UN distribution

Israel has been working every day to increase humanitarian aid into Gaza, the IDF announced on Wednesday, countering claims from the United Nations that there is not enough aid reaching Gazans who are suffering from widespread “starvation.”

The problem, the IDF said, is not a shortage of food, but that the UN is unable to properly distribute the aid inside of Gaza.

“The trucks that go through security checks here are unloaded on the Gazan side of the crossing, the aid is then met by international organizations and delivered to the people of Gaza,” Col. Moshe Tetro, head of COGAT’s Coordination and Liaison Administration to Gaza, said at a press briefing at the Kerem Shalom border crossing, which reopened last month.

In addition to food, which makes up 70% of the truckloads sent into Gaza, according to COGAT, necessities such as water, medical supplies and equipment for makeshift shelters also pass through Kerem Shalom.

According to Tetro, the Israel Defense Forces unit responsible for overseeing the transport of humanitarian aid into Gaza, is increasing the number of trucks that pass through the border daily. Tetro said there has been an increase from the pre-war average of 70 trucks a day to last week’s average of 110 trucks.

In December, the UN claimed more than half a million people in Gaza, 25% of the population, were starving because of lack of food entering the Strip.

Tetro reported that “there is no food shortage in Gaza.”

“In terms of food, the reserves in Gaza are sufficient for the near term,” he said. “However, if there are any organizations that would like to bring more food, we are happy to facilitate it — to the south and to the north,” he said adding that “the problem lies with the international organizations processing and receiving the aid.”

UN officials have blamed Israel for creating bottlenecks on the Israeli side with World Food Program Executive Director Carl Skau saying last week that the delays were being caused by the “serious bottleneck at the Rafah border crossing” rather than a shortage of UN personnel.

“Our teams are sitting on the other side of the border waiting to pick up what comes through so this is not done in a sustainable way,” Skau claimed.

In late December, Israeli President Isaac Herzog said the UN was utterly failing in its efforts to distribute aid to Gazans.

“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 said.

“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,” Herzog added.

While the UN and other actors have consistently complained that Israel is not allowing enough aid into Gaza, video footage has shown evidence that Hamas operatives steal most of the aid.

The videos show masked and armed men affiliated with Hamas sitting on top of the humanitarian supplies – usually food, water, medicine and fuel – as the trucks drive deeper into the Strip. In addition, other videos have shown angry Gazans uncovering stockpiles of aid in UNRWA buildings that remain undistributed to citizens.

Earlier this month, the IDF revealed several conversations with Gaza residents accusing Hamas of stealing food from humanitarian deliveries, seizing homes of civilians to use for launching attacks against Israel, and even killing Gazans who turned to UNRWA for assistance.