Foreign Minister Israel Katz held a tense meeting with UN Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza Sigrid Kaag, Katz’s office told The Times of Israel Wednesday.
According to Channel 12, the UN official warned Katz that Israel may soon be left to deal with Gaza’s humanitarian crisis alone.
Kaag told Katz that chaos and crime are spreading in Gaza, and if the situation doesn’t change, soon the UN won’t be able to continue operating in the Strip, the report said.
The Foreign Ministry pointed to the fact that over 1,000 truckloads of aid are waiting to be distributed on the Gazan side of border crossings, but the UN has not done so. Kaag responded that UN workers are afraid of Gazan gangs and looting and fear that the anger of the residents could be directed toward them. She warned that Israel could be left to deal with the humanitarian mess in Gaza on its own, Channel 12 said.
The report said Kaag also asked for so-called dual-use items to be allowed in, but Katz said that Israel still insists that no goods that could be used by Hamas to produce weapons be allowed into Gaza.
While ministry officials acknowledged a difficult conversation took place, they did not confirm the channel’s account of the details.
Aid groups have warned that a significant number of Gazans are experiencing famine-like conditions in the Strip due to the Israel-Hamas war.
The issue of aid distribution has become critical, with UN agencies and humanitarian organizations claiming the mass influx of aid consignments across the Gaza border crossings has not been effective in alleviating the humanitarian crisis due to a lack of sufficient distribution outlets, which they claim Israel has not provided.
The Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), a Defense Ministry body, has long insisted that it is the UN and aid agencies that have failed to increase distribution capacity.
In another challenge to aid efforts, Egypt has refused to let aid through its Rafah Border Crossing since Israel took control of the Gaza side of the crossing in early May. The Kerem Shalom Crossing from Israel continues to operate despite coming under intermittent attack by Hamas, and two recently opened crossings in northern Gaza are also operating.
According to a New York Times report Tuesday, the aid pier built on the Gaza coast by the United States for some $200 million may be dismantled earlier than planned, having so far completed a total of 10 days of actual operations.
Earlier this month, the World Central Kitchen aid organization said it is in ongoing communication with COGAT and that it has succeeded in supplying its numerous kitchens in Gaza with aid brought in through the crossings.