UN says Israel denies, impedes nearly half of coordinated Gaza aid missions despite ceasefire

The UN said on Monday that Israel denied or impeded nearly half of coordinated humanitarian aid movements inside the Gaza Strip despite a ceasefire deal, with only just over half fully facilitated over a six-day period.

Citing the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric warned during a news conference that humanitarian operations "continue to face significant impediments."

"Shipments from Jordan are restricted to a route that requires multiple offloading and reloading points," he said, adding that "shipments from Egypt, via Kerem Shalom/Karem Abu Salem, face high return rates: despite a recent improvement, between Feb. 4 and 10, less than 60% of consignments from Egypt could be offloaded at that crossing point."

In Gaza, Dujarric stressed that "humanitarian movements that require coordination with Israeli authorities also continue to face obstacles."

"Of nearly 50 such movements coordinated between Feb. 6 and 11, just over  half were fully facilitated," he said, noting that "five were denied outright, and 11 were approved but encountered significant delays and other impediments, including two that were only partially accomplished as a result."

"And just today, we had two more denials," he said.

Dujarric said UN teams on the ground continued discussions with Israel to "clarify the constraints and seek their resolution."

A US-backed ceasefire agreement has been in place in Gaza since Oct. 10, halting Israel's two-year war that has killed more than 72,000 people, mostly women and children, and injured over 171,000 others since October 2023.

Since the agreement took effect on Oct. 10, Israeli forces have committed hundreds of violations through shelling and gunfire, killing 603 Palestinians and injuring 1,618 others, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.