Israel accused of deliberately blocking humanitarian aid to Gaza

Israel has until Friday to submit a report to the ICJ providing details of what it is doing to enable the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza

Humanitarian organisations operating in Palestinian territories on Tuesday said that Israel was deliberately obstructing the delivery of aid in the besieged Gaza Strip.

It comes after Israel has claimed that it is doing its best to protect civilian lives.

The NGOs called on Israel’s strongest allies – the US and Germany – to match their expressions of concern over the civilian suffering in Gaza with actions that could include a suspension of weapon sales to Israel.

“Our efforts to deliver life-saving aid are deliberately obstructed by Israel,” said Sally Abi Khalil, regional director of Oxfam in the Middle East and North Africa.

“Most assistance is unable to go beyond Rafah or Khan Younis, leaving critical needs unmet in Gaza city and the north.

“We are hearing report after report of Palestinians forced to eat animal feed and fodder, of people dying from hunger and of women who cannot produce breast milk.”

Israel has until Friday to submit a report to the International Court of Justice, providing details of what it has done to comply with the world’s top court January 26 request that it take all measures to prevent acts of genocide in the Gaza Strip.

In a binding order, the court requested that Israel “take immediate and effective measures” to enable the entry of humanitarian assistance into the enclave where close to 30,000 people have been killed since October.

But aid workers said that Israel had done nothing to enforce the order – and the situation had instead worsened.

“We can say there is no way that it can be justified in any way possible that Israel has fulfilled its obligations to implement the provisional measures,” said Erika Guevara Rosas, senior director for research at Amnesty International.

“If anything, it’s been a downturn” since January 26, said Jeremy Konyndyk, president of Refugees International.

“There’s been smaller proportion of aid missions being allowed to the north and there has been no perceptible increase in the number of lorries getting in,” he added.

Mr Konydnyk’s comments came shortly after the World Food Programme said it would pause its aid deliveries in north Gaza due to “complete chaos and violence.”

Israel allowed the WFP’s aid lorries into northern Gaza on Sunday and Monday after a three-week halt.

About 300,000 people are believed to still be living in the north of Gaza and face the possibility of famine, the UN says.

The WFP has said that one in six children in the area are acutely malnourished. Before the war, malnutrition was rare among Gazan children.

Another 1.3 million Gazans have fled to the southern city of Rafah.

Israel has warned it is preparing a military incursion into Rafah, but aid agencies and Palestinians have said they have nowhere left to flee.