{"id":539000,"date":"2026-07-13T09:52:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T09:52:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/539000\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T09:52:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T09:52:08","slug":"top-un-official-accuses-hamas-of-gaza-aid-obstruction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/539000\/","title":{"rendered":"Top UN official accuses Hamas of Gaza aid obstruction"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n\tJERUSALEM: A senior UN official on Monday accused Hamas of interfering with humanitarian deliveries in Gaza and intimidating aid workers, warning that the group\u2019s actions were making relief operations increasingly dangerous.<br \/>Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas continues to control parts of Gaza, even after Israeli forces expanded their presence across more than 60 percent of the territory.<br \/>In a statement, UN Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Ramiz Alakbarov, said he \u201cstrongly\u201d condemns the obstruction of humanitarian operations by Gaza\u2019s de facto authorities, referring to Hamas.<br \/>Hamas\u2019s actions \u201cendangered humanitarian personnel, intimidated workers delivering life-saving food assistance and disrupted life-saving humanitarian operations,\u201d he said.<br \/>Armed men linked to Hamas allegedly on Saturday forced their way into a food distribution point in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip, the UN statement said.<br \/>Militants \u201calso entered a WFP (World Food Programme) warehouse and reportedly assaulted two truck drivers who were delivering humanitarian supplies,\u201d it added.<br \/>Alakbarov said \u201cthese incidents are not isolated\u201d and \u201creflect an increasingly dangerous pattern of intimidation, violence and obstruction, including smuggling attempts, targeting and abusing humanitarian operations.\u201d<br \/>He warned that such actions were hampering the delivery of life-saving assistance at a time when civilians across Gaza faced severe hardships.<br \/>A ceasefire was reached in Gaza between Israel and Hamas in October following two years of war, which was sparked by the Palestinian militants\u2019 unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.<br \/>The second phase of the ceasefire, which was to involve Hamas\u2019s disarmament and a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, has been stalled for months.<br \/>Israeli forces have expanded their presence in recent months, taking control of more than 60 percent of the territory.<br \/>Hamas still exerts control over the remaining area, but last week announced it was dissolving its 15-member body that had governed the strip for nearly two decades.<br \/>Violence continues in Gaza despite the ceasefire.<br \/>At least 1,098 Palestinians have been killed since the truce took effect, according to the territory\u2019s health ministry, which operates under Hamas authority and whose figures are considered reliable by the United Nations.<br \/>The Israeli military says it has lost five soldiers in Gaza over the same period, as well as one civilian contractor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JERUSALEM: A senior UN official on Monday accused Hamas of interfering with humanitarian deliveries in Gaza and intimidating&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":539001,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[85,46,43],"class_list":["post-539000","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539000","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=539000"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539000\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/539001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=539000"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=539000"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=539000"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}