UN humanitarian chief says essential supplies are ‘running out’ in Gaza

A top United Nations humanitarian official has warned that essential supplies are “running out” in Gaza.

The warning came at an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council where the Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations accused Israel of besieging, bombing and starving 400,000 Palestinians in northern Gaza.

Riyad Mansour told the emergency meeting on the escalating humanitarian crisis in Gaza: “These are crimes. This is genocide. They must be stopped and they must be stopped now.”

Israel’s UN ambassador, Danny Danon, insisted that his country’s humanitarian efforts remain “as comprehensive as ever” and criticised the council for focusing on the humanitarian situation in Gaza while Israeli civilians “are being targeted daily by those who seek our destruction”.

He said Israel has delivered more than one million tons of aid, including 700,000 tons of food, to Gaza since it launched its military operation after Hamas’s surprise attack in southern Israel on October 7 2023.

He said the real problem is Hamas, which he says “has hijacked the aid, seizing it for their own purposes”.

“As long as Hamas remains in power, Hamas has weaponised the humanitarian situation, exploiting every opportunity to strengthen their hold while their own people suffer,” Mr Danon said. “This makes it incredibly difficult to ensure that the aid reaches its intended recipients.”

But he said Israel remains committed to working with its partners to deliver aid “even under these dangerous and morally reprehensible conditions”.

Mr Mansour urged the Security Council to press Israel to stop the killings, agree to an immediate ceasefire, allow humanitarian aid to reach civilians and chart a path “away from occupation and rules” to an independent state and peace.

Earlier, the US ambassador to the UN said the US is “gravely concerned” by Israeli evacuation orders in northern Gaza, stressing that all parties must reject any forced displacement of civilians, which is a violation of international law.

Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the emergency meeting of the Security Council that she was horrified by images of fires in tents for displaced families outside a hospital in central Gaza. The fires were ignited by an Israeli air strike early Monday that killed at least four people and injured dozens.

Ms Thomas-Greenfield said the US has made clear that Israel has “a responsibility to do everything possible to avoid civilian casualties, even if Hamas was operating near the hospital in an attempt to use civilians as human shields”.

With winter approaching, she said Israeli authorities should be working with the UN and the international community on a plan for civilians to move inland.

“They should be facilitating – not obstructing – efforts to provide for temporary shelter,” she said. “And they must restore basic services, including water, electricity, and sanitation.”

The top UN humanitarian official accused Israel of blocking the delivery of desperately needed aid to Gaza, saying there is barely any food left in the north where an Israeli offensive is under way.

Acting humanitarian chief Joyce Msuya told the emergency meeting that no food entered northern Gaza from October 2 to October 15, “when a trickle was allowed in”.

“All essential supplies for survival are running out,” she said. “There is now barely any food left to distribute, and most bakeries will be forced to shut down again in the next several days without additional fuel.”

Throughout Gaza, Ms Msuya said, less than one third of the 286 humanitarian missions co-ordinated with Israeli authorities in the first two weeks of October “were facilitated without major incidents or delays”.

She said the level of suffering and reality in Gaza is brutal and worsens every day as Israeli bombs fall, fierce fighting continues and “supplies essential for people’s survival and humanitarian assistance are blocked at every turn”.

Ms Msuya urged all Security Council members to ensure that international humanitarian law is respected. It requires that civilians are protected and receive supplies to meet their essential needs wherever they are.