An illustrated New York Times article May 9 says:
Amid Blockade, Trump and Israel Mull Divisive Aid Plan For Gaza. (free link)
Two months after Israel blocked all aid to Gaza, U.S. and Israeli officials are considering a new food distribution plan. The plan marks the first time that the Trump administration has been drawn into such detailed discussions about aid delivery in the Gaza Strip.
Mr. Trump is considering announcing the plan in the coming days, before a trip to the Middle East, an Israeli and a U.S. official said.
The article reports the U.N. opinion that the plan is “unworkable.” It quotes a briefing paper distributed by the U.N. office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs that “the proposal would force vulnerable civilians to walk longer distances to get to the few distribution hubs, making it harder to get food to those who need it most .”
Aid workers also warned that the new system may make civilians who live far from the distribution points more vulnerable to looters and thieves, since they will be forced to walk long distances with valuable food parcels.
The U.N. briefing paper said that the project could be a backhanded means of forcibly displacing civilians in northern Gaza; citing Israeli officials, the U.N. said the aid sites would likely be built in southern Gaza, forcing civilians to abandon the north to gain access to food.
According to the article, the United Nations says the plan has “too many reservations to participate.”
Under the current system, the U.N. said, there are 400 distribution points. The new one, it said, “drastically reduces this operational reach, raising the prospects that large segments of the population would be left without food and other essential supplies.”
The U.N. and others expressed concern that the plan would force civilians to regularly interact with Israeli soldiers, putting them at greater risk of detention and interrogation.
The leader of an Israeli rights organization says “the proposal does not look like a plan for aid distribution so much as a tool for further pressure, to ensure that life is unlivable in Gaza.” The New York Times article adds:
Absent an end to the blockade, the risk of famine is expected to grow. The fuel embargo has made it almost impossible to distribute food to certain parts of Gaza, or to power bakeries, forcing many to close.
In late April, the World Food Program said its food supplies had run out, while UNRWA said it had no more flour.
However, Israel is quoted in the article as saying there are enough supplies in Gaza and that “it is necessary to freeze aid to prevent it from reaching Hamas.”
Israel and the United States say a new system is needed to prevent Hamas from stealing food supplies and profiting from them.
