Gaza Herald – More than 6,000 UN trucks carrying food and medical supplies remain stuck outside Gaza, unable to enter the besieged enclave, as famine conditions worsen and political pressure mounts on the United Nations to partner with controversial Israeli- and U.S.-backed distribution schemes.
Despite public claims by the chairman of the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) that he is willing to collaborate with the UN, no coordination has occurred, and the trucks remain blocked at border crossings in Jordan and Egypt.
“UNRWA has 6,000 aid trucks blocked outside Gaza, awaiting the green light to enter,” UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said on Friday, posting the statement on social media.
Juliette Touma, director of communications at UNRWA, confirmed that the trucks, loaded with food and medicine, have been waiting since March 2.
“They have not been given the green light to get into Gaza, where people are starving,” she said.
A Manufactured Crisis
The standoff comes amid a coordinated smear campaign against UNRWA by Israeli officials and supporters of the GHF, who accuse the UN of withholding aid and allowing hunger to spread.
In a video published by the Israeli Government Advertising Agency, a narrator claims, “While Israel cleared hundreds of trucks that crossed into Gaza, the UN refuses to distribute the aid.” The video shows rows of stationary trucks and labels the situation as “deliberate sabotage by the UN.”
UNRWA has pushed back forcefully. Touma dismissed the video as misinformation, saying the real obstacle lies in Israel’s refusal to authorize aid entry. “There’s a lot of manipulation of information,” she said, urging journalists to verify the material being circulated.
“Distractions like these will delay necessary actions,” she continued. Children and adults are dying of starvation. Over 1,000 people have died from starvation as a result of this distribution system scam [GHF].
GHF Pressures UN to Partner
The GHF, led by evangelical minister Reverend Johnnie Moore, has launched a public pressure campaign on the UN, sending letters to Secretary-General António Guterres and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), accusing UN agencies of failing to deliver aid and enabling starvation.
In his letter to Guterres, Moore wrote, “The time has come to confront, without euphemism or delay, the structural failure of aid delivery in Gaza.” He blamed “bad actors” for obstructing aid, without naming them, and called on the UN to abandon its existing infrastructure in favor of a new delivery system involving GHF.
UN officials have rejected the pressure as political theater and say it distracts from the real issue: Israel’s continued blockade and its control over who and what enters Gaza.
Touma stressed the importance of restoring UNRWA’s ability to operate freely. “It’s time to lift the siege, let aid in, and release the hostages,” she said. “It’s time to allow UNRWA to do its work. There will be irreversible consequences if we do not.”
Famine Deepens Under Siege
The dispute unfolds as Gaza faces catastrophic levels of hunger. More than two million Palestinians are now on the brink of starvation, with hundreds already dead from malnutrition and dehydration, particularly children.
The only humanitarian agency in Gaza that can provide aid on a large scale, UNRWA, has been prohibited from conducting operations in the enclave since October.
Without its network, aid trucks authorized to enter remain few, scattered, and vulnerable to chaos and theft.
Since Israel unilaterally ended the ceasefire on March 18, the siege has tightened, aid access has declined, and the humanitarian situation has rapidly deteriorated.
“The media gets fixated on information that one side to the conflict is putting out,” Touma said. “That’s a distraction from the atrocities, including the deliberate starvation of the Palestinian people.”
