US envoy says Israel has provided no evidence that Hamas diverted UN aid from Gaza

In a rare public criticism of Israel, a senior U.S. envoy said Israel had provided no concrete evidence that Hamas was diverting U.N. aid and that its recent targeted killing of a Gaza police commander guarding a convoy of trucks made security distribution Cargo is almost impossible.

David Satterfield, the Biden administration’s special Middle East envoy for humanitarian issues, said criminal gangs are increasingly targeting convoys as police escorts leave after Israeli attacks.

He said Israeli lawlessness and frequent protests at crossing points by those opposed to aid entering Gaza had disrupted the delivery and distribution of aid.

“We’re working with the Israeli government and the Israeli military to see what solutions can be found here because everyone wants to see the aid continue,” Satterfield told the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace on Friday.

The solution “will require some form of security escort back. Satterfield said Israeli officials have provided no specific evidence of the diversion or theft of U.N. aid, but the militants are interested in using other aid channels … to decide where and to whom the aid goes.

Even before the latest setback, the United States said aid reaching Gaza was woefully inadequate. More than half of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents flocked to the southern city of Rafah on the border with Egypt after complying with Israeli evacuation orders.

However, no place is safe and Israel is also launching airstrikes in Rafah. Hamas’s attack on Israel on Oct. 7 triggered an Israeli air and ground offensive that has killed more than 28,000 Palestinians, according to health authorities in the Hamas-controlled enclave.

It caused widespread destruction, displaced about 80% of the population and triggered a humanitarian crisis.

Residents of the Rafah area say it is common for groups of children and teenagers to try to intercept trucks and snatch supplies as they enter Gaza.

Police opened fire on Friday after a crowd rushed toward an aid truck leaving the Rafah border crossing with Egypt. Wael Abu Omar, spokesman for the local intersection authority, said one person died.

Israel has repeatedly claimed that Hamas diverted aid, including fuel, after entering Gaza, but the U.N. aid agency denies this.

Last week, an Israeli airstrike on a car killed three top police commanders in Rafah, the first point of entry for aid shipments.

Two other officers were killed in another strike. The police force is controlled by the Hamas-run Interior Ministry, but Satterfield noted that it also includes personnel who joined Hamas before it seized Gaza in 2007.

Egypt is concerned that Israel has expressed determination to expand ground fighting into Rafah, describing it as the last important stronghold of Hamas militants but giving no timetable. Responding to international concerns, Israel said it would develop a plan to evacuate civilians before invading the southern city.

U.S. President Joe Biden has urged Israel not to carry out the operation without a credible plan to protect civilians and instead focus on achieving a ceasefire, while Egypt has said such action could threaten diplomatic ties between the two countries. Many other world leaders have sent similar messages of concern.

Israel says it has no plans to force Palestinians into Egypt. However, new satellite photos suggest Egypt is preparing for such a scenario. The images show Egypt building a wall and razing land near its border with Gaza. Egypt has yet to publicly acknowledge the construction.

Egypt is building additional defense lines within the existing buffer zone, two senior Egyptian officials said on Saturday. They requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss details with the media.

The buffer zone, which Egypt established in recent years to fight Islamic State insurgents, is 5 kilometers (3 miles) from the border.

The aim is to prevent weapons from being smuggled in and out of Gaza through underground tunnels. Authorities say they have destroyed more than 1,500 tunnels over the years.

Dia Rashwan, director of the National Information Service, said the new fortified area was not intended to shelter Palestinians fleeing Gaza.

The war drags on. On October 7, Hamas launched a cross-border attack, killing about 1,200 Israelis and taking 250 people hostage. The Israeli military launched a war.

Gaza’s health ministry on Saturday raised Gaza’s total death toll to 28,858, saying the bodies of 83 people killed in Israeli bombings had been taken to hospitals in the past 24 hours.

The statistics do not distinguish between combatants and civilians, but the ministry said two-thirds of those killed were women and children.

The report said more than 68,000 people had been injured, 11,000 of whom required emergency evacuation for treatment outside Gaza. In recent weeks, Israeli forces have focused on Khan Younis, Gaza’s second city and a Hamas stronghold.

The city’s Al-Nasser Hospital has been described by the military as a Hamas hideout and one of its last targets in Khan Younis.

The military said on Saturday it had arrested 100 suspected Hamas militants at hospitals. Israel’s defense minister said at least 20 detainees were involved in the October 7 attack.

The health ministry said the army had turned hospitals into barracks” and detained large numbers of medical staff, without providing details.

Israel said it was not targeting patients or doctors, but staff said the facility was struggling under heavy fire and dwindling supplies of food and water.

(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from associated news agency – PTI)