UN, Israel at odds over cause of decline in aid deliveries: 'False narratives by international community'

Aid entering Gaza declined during the month of October, particularly in the northern Gaza Strip where a military offensive against Hamas is underway. The United Nations and Israel are increasingly blaming one another over the reasons for and extent of the problem. 

Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, stated on Oct. 27 that "repeated efforts to deliver humanitarian supplies" were being "denied by the Israeli authorities." 

Brig. Gen. Elad Goren, head of the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) that oversees the humanitarian-civil effort in Gaza, told Fox News Digital that the accusation is "100 percent pure, complete lie." Goren said that "there will be a time that people will write books about what has happened during this war. Not just in the battlefield, but also the fight over narratives, the false narratives by the international community." 

Goren emphasized the lack of "logistical capacity, lack of trucks, lack of manpower, lack of resources," and overall lack of commitment in the U.N. effort. "If this is the most important humanitarian logistical operation," Goren asked why the U.N. only brought 69 personnel and 40 trucks to distribute aid. "We feel that the U.N. does not want to be excellent in their job, because they believe that if they do their job, it will ease pressure on Israel," Goren said. 

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Seeming to reinforce Goren’s observation is data from COGAT showing that the number of aid trucks awaiting collection at the Kerem Shalom crossing rose from 450 on Oct. 1 to 700 on Oct. 30. COGAT shared exclusive footage of the overstocked Kerem Shalom loading area with Fox News Digital. 

Goren said that COGAT "sat down with the U.N. several times in order to find solutions" to issues impeding aid deliveries, like looters continuing to attack humanitarian convoys. According to Goren, COGAT offered "alternative roads in order to bypass" looters, proposed "allowing the Palestinian trucks to move on defense roads from the Israeli side of the security fence," and escorted trucks along their routes. 

Dujarric refuted COGAT’s claims of offering alternative routes for trucks. He said that with pre-approved supplies only able to transit through three border crossings - Kerem Shalom, Gate 96 and Erez West – as of November, "our humanitarian colleagues…access these border areas by highly dangerous routes, exposed to hostilities, with many alternative roads being banned by the Israeli authorities. The routes available are often in poor condition and prone to armed looting resulting," Dujarric continued. "Commercial supplies are virtually banned."

In response to questions about aid backing up at Kerem Shalom, Dujarric said that "letting supplies be placed at barely accessible entry points cannot be considered as facilitating humanitarian efforts." Only when "supplies and services have reached the people who need them, in sufficient quantities" are they considered facilitated, Dujarric added. 

According to Dujarric, "there are 80 international staff, 13,000 national staff employed with UNRWA, and 208 national staff employed by other U.N. agencies," who are "working in the most dangerous conditions to provide life-saving assistance for the over two million people of Gaza." He said that "to accuse them, and their national colleagues, of lacking motivation is insulting to say the very least."

Dujarric also noted additional concerns, including humanitarian workers being "held at Israeli checkpoints for hours, shot at, harassed and put in danger," with one World Food Programme convoy "struck 10 times by IDF gunfire." Dujarric said that only 35 of the 351 truck drivers WFP has submitted for clearance to COGAT were cleared.

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An Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson responded to Dujarric’s claims by telling Fox News Digital that the IDF "takes all operationally feasible measures to mitigate harm to civilians, including aid convoys and workers," and "has never, and will never, deliberately target aid convoys and workers." The spokesperson also explained that the IDF is "working proactively with international aid organizations to update driver lists, subject to strict security checks due to the drivers’ proximity to the Israeli border," and wants to "expedite driver approvals."

The IDF directly refuted Dujarric’s assertions about Kerem Shalom, saying that Israel "has taken proactive steps to improve accessibility at the crossings," including carrying out road expansions, adding "dozens of empty trucks, forklifts, and additional logistical equipment," and allowing "daily tactical pauses to enable and ease the transfer of aid."

The IDF spokesperson said that Israel has been sending "humanitarian aid, blood supplies, food boxes, fuel, and medical equipment" and medical teams into northern Gaza through Erez and two additional locations. Israeli officials did announce last week that they will soon add a new humanitarian aid crossing in Kissufim in order to facilitate more deliveries to the southern portion of the Gaza Strip.

On Nov. 1, Reuters alleged that the situation in northern Gaza was "apocalyptic," with all Gazans "at imminent risk of dying from disease, famine and violence." On Nov. 8, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) Famine Review Committee issued a similar warning, explaining that there was "a strong likelihood that famine is imminent" in parts of northern Gaza.

David Adesnik, a senior fellow and director of research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, has tracked dire warnings of famine in Gaza during the conflict there. He talked with Fox News Digital about prior predictions of doom which did not come to pass, largely because of COGAT’s efforts to allay hunger. 

Adesnik explained that the IPC has "downplayed the good news aggressively" of the "long term trend" of lowering the number of Gazans in the worst phases of hunger. The IPC found in December 2023 that 17% of Gazans faced catastrophic phase-five hunger conditions. By March, 30% of the population had reached phase five, with onlookers predicting famine was imminent. The next report, however, found that just 15% of Gazans were in phase five. The most recent IPC snapshot from October shows that just 6% of Gazans are in phase five, though the IPC warns that this number is "expected to nearly triple in the coming months". The IPC proclaimed that the "risk of famine persists." 

With a new U.N. FAO-WFP report that likewise raises alarms about possible famine, Adesnik said that "the U.N. is doing its best to obscure the improvements in food security made possible by a surge of aid into Gaza this past spring and summer." He added that the report fails to mention how, according to U.N. data, there was an 80% decline in "the number of Gaza residents facing the most severe deprivation" between March and October.

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Professor Aron Troen, of the Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, performed an analysis of the quantity of calories reaching Gazan civilians through humanitarian aid efforts. In May, Troen’s report found that the "quantity and nutritional composition of the food that has been delivered over the past four months complied, and even exceeded" an "internationally-recognized benchmark for humanitarian response."

Troen told Fox News Digital that his team recently updated its figures and found that aid entering Gaza was "enough up until September." Troen added that COGAT is "doing a heroic job in very tough times" but that "there really is immense suffering in Gaza."

COGAT’s online portal shows that since the war began in October, more than 1,115,000 tons of aid have entered Gaza.

Goren admitted that aid quantities were low in October due to the High Holidays, memorials for the Oct. 7 anniversary, and the closing of the two Erez aid crossings for two weeks while troops moved into northern Gaza to battle "the heart of Hamas." While many in the media supposed that the so-called "General’s plan" to evacuate northern Gaza and cut off aid was the culprit for diminished aid, Goren said that General’s plan has never "even been discussed in the army." He also emphasized that "we are not in a war against civilians, but against Hamas." 

As a part of that war, COGAT ended private sector aid during the month of October. Goren said that Hamas was "trying to take advantage and use the private sector" as a way to collect taxes and steal aid. "So we closed it," he explained. "There is no way that we will allow Hamas to empower itself from humanitarian assistance."

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Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated on Oct. 16, 2023 that "if Hamas in any way blocks humanitarian assistance from reaching civilians, including by seizing the aid itself, we’ll be the first to condemn it, and we will work to prevent it from happening again." President Biden emphasized two days later that "if Hamas diverts or steals the assistance, they will have demonstrated once again that they have no concern for the welfare of the Palestinian people and it will end."

Fox News Digital asked the State Department whether Blinken would condemn Hamas’ aid theft and aid taxation, but received no response.

Adesnik told Fox News Digital that "from early on, at least last November or December, the administration has ramped up criticism of Israel, but with a couple of exceptions, continues to provide the weapons that Israel needs." As Adesnik explained, "neither side thinks the U.S. is pursuing a principled middle ground."

American officials’ frustration with Israel peaked last month, evidenced by a leaked letter from Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to Israeli officials on Oct. 13. In it, U.S. officials warned that they will need to reassess whether to allocate foreign military funds to Israel. They provided a list of improvements they expect to see before Nov. 13. This included enabling the delivery of 350 truckloads of aid each day, a benchmark not yet achieved. 

As of Nov. 4, Department of State spokesperson Matthew Miller stated that while the U.S. had not finalized its assessment, the "situation had not improved sufficiently in the 21, 22 days, whatever it is since we sent that letter."

After Austin conveyed a "sharp" message to his Israeli counterpart last Friday, Israel is said to believe that the U.S. "intends to go ‘all the way’ in pressing Israel on the issue" of aid, the Times of Israel reported.