UN Halts Aid Shipments Through Gaza’s Main Crossing

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 another cold, rainy winter sets in. Hundreds of thousands of people are living in squalid tent camps and rely on international food aid. And in Israel, a former defense minister and fierce critic of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — and a hard-liner on the Palestinians — accuses the government of ethnic cleansing in northern Gaza, where a military offensive continues.