UN Halts Aid Shipments Through Gaza’s Main Crossing

December 1, 2024 6:22 am

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees says it is halting aid deliveries through the main cargo crossing into Gaza because of the threat of armed gangs who have looted recent convoys. The decision could worsen the humanitarian crisis in Gaza as the cold, rainy winter sets in, with hundreds of thousands of people living in squalid tent camps and reliant on international food aid. Philippe Lazzarini, the head of UNRWA, the main aid provider in Gaza, said Sunday that the route leading to the Kerem Shalom crossing from Israel is too dangeous on the Gaza side. Armed men looted nearly 100 trucks traveling on the route in mid-November, and he said gangs stole a smaller shipment on Saturday.