UN Refuses to Join US-Backed Gaza Aid Plan, Citing Lack of Neutrality

The United Nations says it will not participate in a Washington-supported humanitarian initiative for Gaza, arguing the scheme falls short of the organisation’s standards of impartiality, neutrality and independence, as per Al Jazeera.

“This particular distribution plan does not accord with our basic principles … and we will not be participating in this,” UN deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq told reporters on Thursday.

The project, called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, is set to begin operations by the end of May and has been championed by the United States and Israel as a way to feed and supply civilians while preventing the Palestinian group Hamas from diverting aid.
UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher has dismissed the plan as a “fig leaf for further violence and displacement,” and major aid organisations have echoed his concerns.

Israel, which has blocked all assistance entering Gaza since March 2 unless Hamas frees the remaining hostages, has agreed to “facilitate” but not fund or distribute the aid.

“We will enable them; we will not be the ones giving the aid,” Israeli UN Ambassador Danny Danon said.

Speaking in Antalya, Turkey, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio acknowledged the criticism.

“We’re open to an alternative if someone has a better one,” he said after talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Rubio stressed that the US is “not insensitive to the suffering of the people of Gaza,” but insisted any mechanism must keep supplies out of Hamas’s hands.

A State Department spokesperson noted the foundation will receive no US government funding, but details of other financing remain unclear.

Gaza’s 2.1 million residents are grappling with extreme shortages of food, water and medicine after more than 18 months of war. A report this week from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification warned the enclave “faces a critical risk of famine.”

The UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said it already has a “solid and principled operational plan” that could deliver large-scale aid immediately if Israel reopened border crossings and guaranteed safe passage.