WASHINGTON (AP) — Senior U.N. officials told Israel they will suspend aid operations across Gaza unless urgent steps are taken to better protect humanitarian workers, two U.N. officials said.
A U.N. letter sent to senior Israeli officials this month said Israel must provide U.N. workers with direct communication with Israeli forces on the ground in Gaza, among other steps, the officials said.
They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing negotiations with Israeli officials. The U.N. officials said there has been no final decision on suspending operations across Gaza and that talks with Israelis were ongoing.
Israeli military officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Israel has acknowledged some military strikes on humanitarian workers, including an April attack that killed seven workers with the World Central Kitchen and has denied allegations of others.
Citing security concerns, the U.N. World Food Program has already suspended aid delivery from a U.S.-built pier designed to bring food and other emergency supplies to Palestinians who are facing starvation amid the eight-month war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
U.N. and other aid officials have complained for months that they have no way to communicate quickly and directly with Israeli forces on the ground, in contrast with the usual procedures — known as “deconfliction” — employed in conflict zones globally to protect aid workers from attack by combatants.
The U.N. and aid workers also complain of increasing lawlessness in Gaza and have urged Israel to do more to improve overall security for their operations.
“Missiles hit our premises, despite being deconflicted,” said Steve Taravella, a spokesman for the World Food Program, one of the main organizations working on humanitarian delivery in Gaza. He was not one of those confirming the U.N. threat to suspend operations across the territory. “WFP warehouses have been caught in the crossfire twice in the past two weeks.”
Separately, the United Nations has also suspended cooperation with the U.S.-built pier since June 9, a day after the Israeli military used the area around the pier in a hostage rescue that killed more than 270 Palestinians.
While U.S. and Israeli officials said no part of the pier itself was used in the raid that rescued four hostages taken by Hamas, U.N. officials said any perception in Gaza that the project was used in the Israeli military operation may endanger their aid work.
The U.N. has finished a security assessment of the pier operation following the raid but has not yet made a decision on resuming any delivery of supplies from the U.S.-built structure, according to a humanitarian official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details that have not yet been released publicly.
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AP reporter Melanie Lidman contributed from Tel Aviv, Israel.
Samy Magdy And Ellen Knickmeyer, The Associated Press
