U.N. Suspends Aid Deliveries to Gaza via Kerem Shalom Crossing

The United Nations agency that assists Palestinian refugees has suspended aid deliveries through the main crossing into Gaza because of lawlessness and violence, saying that Israel has a responsibility as the occupying power to ensure safe conditions for aid workers to provide humanitarian assistance.

Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the agency, known as UNRWA, said in a statement on Sunday that it would stop sending aid through the crossing despite a deepening hunger crisis because it had become “unnecessarily impossible” to do so safely.

“The road out of this crossing has not been safe for months,” Mr. Lazzarini said.

He said “political decisions” made by Israel had limited the amount of aid getting into Gaza and also created a dangerous and chaotic environment for delivering the relatively few supplies that have entered through the crossing, Kerem Shalom.

Mr. Lazzarini said Israel had failed to provide safe passage on roads designated for use by aid trucks, and said Israel’s military had targeted local police officers, leading to a “breakdown of law and order.” Gaza’s police force answers to what remains of the Hamas-run government in the territory.

“The responsibility of protection of aid workers and supplies is with the State of Israel as the occupying power,” Mr. Lazzarini said. “They must ensure aid flows into Gaza safely and must refrain from attacks on humanitarian workers.”

On Monday, the Israeli military agency that oversees aid distribution in Gaza responded by saying that relief delivered by UNRWA made up just 7 percent of all the aid delivered in the territory in November.

Israel has frequently blamed U.N. agencies for not doing more to distribute aid in Gaza, and has accused UNRWA in particular of fomenting anti-Israel sentiment.

The Israeli agency, known as COGAT, said more than 1,000 trucks’ worth of aid was “collected from the various crossings and distributed throughout the Gaza Strip” in the last week.

“We will continue to work with the international community to increase the amount of aid making its way into Gaza,” the agency said in a statement.

The decision to stop UNRWA aid shipments was made after armed gangs stole a group of aid trucks that entered Gaza on Saturday, a hijacking that came after a larger convoy was looted at gunpoint on Nov. 16, Mr. Lazzarini said.

Gaza has teetered on the edge of famine for almost a year. Israel, which controls Gaza’s borders, has imposed fluctuating restrictions on the entry of food, water, medicine and other goods since the war against Hamas began more than a year ago. Last month it banned the import of nearly all commercial goods, saying Hamas was benefiting from their sale.