UNRWA pauses aid delivery through Kerem Shalom as looting increases

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has paused its delivery of aid through the Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza, citing lack of safety as looting by armed criminal gangs continued. 

"On 16 November, a large convoy of aid trucks was stolen by armed gangs. Yesterday (November 29) we tried to bring in a few food trucks on the same route. They were all taken," UNRWA said in a statement. 

The statement went on to say the ongoing siege of the Strip, hurdles from Israeli authorities, targeting local police, and  political decisions to restrict the amounts of aid have made humanitarian operations "impossible."

The UN estimates a third or more of its aid entering Gaza is looted. Hundreds of convicted criminals escaped early in the conflict after prisons were bombed or police fled.

“Most of the organised looting has been taking place in a zone the [Israeli military] control. They don’t have troops there, but their [armed drones] are everywhere,” a humanitarian official told The Guardian.

COGAT, the Israeli military agency that deals with humanitarian aid into Gaza, has failed to effectively deter looting by gangs, Aid agencies said.

UNRWA was established by a UN resolution in 1949 and is mandated to provide assistance and protection to refugees in its five areas of operation: Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

In October, the Israeli Knesset passed a resolution to ban UNRWA from operating in Israel and stopping Israeli authorities from cooperating with the organisation.

Israel has long been critical of UNRWA, set up in the wake of the 1948 war that broke out at the time of the creation of the state of Israel, accusing it of anti-Israel bias and saying it perpetuates the conflict by maintaining Palestinians in a permanent refugee status.