Delivery of food aid to Rafah paused due to lack of supplies, UN agency says

The United Nationsagency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) saidon Tuesday that food distribution in Gaza's southern city ofRafahwascurrently suspended due to lack of supplies and insecurity.

UNRWA saidina statement on X, formerly Twitter, that only seven of its 24 health centres were operationaland that it had not received any medical supplies in the past 10 days due to "closures/disruptions" at theRafahand Kerem Shalom crossings into Gaza.

"We desperately need a safe passage not just for the humanitarian supplies, but also for the humanitarian personnel," read a statement from Louise Wateridge, aUNRWAcommunications officer in Gaza.

Israel mounted anew pushin central Gaza on Monday, bombarding towns in the north of the Palestinian enclave and saying it intended to broaden operations inRafahdespite U.S. warnings of the risk of mass casualties in the southern city.

Simultaneous Israeli assaults on the southern and northern edges of Hamas-ruled Gaza this month have caused a new exodus of hundreds of thousands of people from their homesand sharply restricted the flow ofaid, raising the risk of famine.

UN looking fornew routes from pier

The United Nations has planned new routes within the Gaza Strip to transportaidfrom a U.S.-built floating pier after crowds of desperate Palstinians intercepted 11 trucks, causing a halt to deliveries that continued for a third day on Tuesday.

The temporary pier was anchored to a Gaza beach last Thursday as Israel comes under growing global pressure to allow more supplies into the besieged coastal enclave, where it is at war with Palestinian militants Hamas and a famine looms.

WATCH | Aid trucks not able to getinto Gaza:

Aid arrives from U.S.-built floating pier in Gaza

5 months ago

Duration 0:33

In video obtained from Reuters, trucks with food and other supplies drive away, into Gaza, after being loaded from the floating pier constructed by the U.S. to deliver much-needed aid.

Operations began on Friday and 10aidtrucks were driven by UNcontractors to a World Food Programme (WFP) warehouse in Deir El Balah in Gaza. But on Saturday, only five trucks made it to the warehouse after 11 others were intercepted.

"Crowds had stopped the trucks at various points along the way. There was what I think I would refer to as self-distribution," UNspokespersonStephane Dujarric told reporters in New York on Tuesday.

"These trucks were travelling through areas where there'd been noaid. I think people feared that they would never seeaid. They grabbed what they could," he said.

Distribution was paused as the UNplanned new routes and co-ordination of deliveries in a bid to prevent moreaidbeing intercepted, saidAbeer Etefa, a WFP spokesperson in Cairo.

"The missions were planned for today using the new routes to avoid the crowds," she said. Dujarric later saidthere had been no transportation ofaidfrom the pier since Saturday.

Gazans 'waiting for American aid'

The pier has been met with hope and skepticism by residents in Gaza. The pier operation announced by U.S. President Joe Biden in March is estimated to cost$320 million USD($436 million CAD) and involve 1,000 U.S. service members.

"The pier should be there when the (Israeli) occupation completely ends. Then, it will be good for us. It will be good to travel, to get things," saidAbu Nadi al-Haddad, questioning why it was needed now, given there were several land crossings.

Another resident, Abu Nasser Abu Khousa, came to the coastal road close to where the pier is located with his four-year-old son and a donkey-drawn cart in the hope of receivingaid.

"We are waiting for the Americanaid, but we did not get anything," he said, adding that he had lost his home in the war and had been displaced multiple times. "We will come back tomorrow, God willing, in the hope that we will get someaid, that will help us survive."

U.S. officials have saidthat once up and running the pier would initially handle 90 trucks a day, but that number could go to 150 trucks. The UNhas saidat least 500 trucks a day are needed to enter Gaza.

Aidoffloaded at the pier comes via a maritime corridor from Cyprus, where it is first inspected by Israel. Two ships carryingaidleftCyprus earlier this month and the Pentagon saidmore than 569tonnes ofaidhad been delivered to Gaza.

"More is on the way, so you're going to see those numbers increase," Pentagon spokespersonBrigadier General Pat Ryder told reporters on Tuesday.

It was not immediately clear how much of the 569 tonnes ofaidwhich the Pentagon saidhad been donated by the U.S., Britain, the United Arab Emirates and the European Union was still waiting to be transported by UN-contracted trucks.

Israel is retaliating against Hamas in Gaza an enclave of 2.3 million people over the Oct. 7 attack by Palestinianmilitants wheremore than 1,200 people were killed and over 150 taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.

Aidaccess into southern Gaza has been disrupted since Israelstepped up military operationsinRafah, a move that the UNsays has forced 900,000 people to flee.