[News] Israel Is Now Blaming the UN for Its Famine. Here’s the Reality.
Anti-Imperialist News
news at freedomarchives.org
Thu Jul 24 19:45:38 EDT 2025
A man-made famine is imminent in Gaza and its people require at least
600 trucks a day to stave it off, as Israel deflects blame to the UN.
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Israel Is Now Blaming the UN for Its Famine. Here’s the Reality.
<https://substack.com/app-link/post?publication_id=2510348&post_id=169179950&utm_source=post-email-title&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=lvppb&token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjozNjc1MTU4MywicG9zdF9pZCI6MTY5MTc5OTUwLCJpYXQiOjE3NTMzOTY3NTAsImV4cCI6MTc1NTk4ODc1MCwiaXNzIjoicHViLTI1MTAzNDgiLCJzdWIiOiJwb3N0LXJlYWN0aW9uIn0.7HINTxBSTGYZ3zwrmfa2RP7HMhpoY8vseMDUd5y9XsM>
A man-made famine is imminent in Gaza and its people require at
least 600 trucks a day to stave it off, as Israel deflects blame
to the UN.
Ryan Grim <https://substack.com/@ryangrim>
Jul 24, 2025
<https://substack.com/@ryangrim>
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/The U.S. announced it was pulling out of the Gaza ceasefire talks
today, even as Hamas said it remained committed to diplomacy. A senior
Hamas official told Jeremy Scahill that envoy Steve Witkoff “is playing
the same game of manipulation, deception and evasion” and that the
withdrawal is an attempt at a “new round of blackmailing.”/
/In an official statement, Hamas was remarkably diplomatic:/
/“The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) affirms that, from the
outset of the negotiation process, it has acted with full national
responsibility and high flexibility across various issues, and has
been committed to reaching an agreement that halts the aggression
and ends the suffering of our people in the Gaza Strip./
/The Movement presented its final response after extensive
consultations with Palestinian factions, mediators, and friendly
countries, and it responded positively to all the feedback it
received. This reflects a sincere commitment to the success of the
mediators' efforts and a constructive engagement with all proposed
initiatives./
/We are surprised by the negative statements of U.S. envoy Steve
Witkoff regarding the Movement's stance, especially when the
mediators have expressed their welcome and satisfaction with this
constructive and positive position, which opens the door to reaching
a comprehensive agreement./
/The Movement reiterates its commitment to continuing negotiations
and engaging in them to help overcome obstacles and reach a
permanent ceasefire agreement.”/
/Meanwhile, you may have seen that Israel has launched a new propaganda
campaign, aiming to pin the blame for the ongoing famine in Gaza on the
United Nations. If anybody in your circle is falling prey to that
hasbara, please share this piece below with them./
/—Ryan Grim/
<https://substack.com/redirect/2347e998-0db6-43bd-bcd5-b18b10fdf2a1?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>Israeli
soldiers pass by humanitarian aid packages intended for the Palestinian
side of the Kerem Shalom Crossing Point in the Gaza Strip on July 24,
2025 Photo by Amir Levy/Getty Images).
The Israeli government has pivoted to a new deflection: The famine in
Gaza is not the result of Israel’s publicly announced March 2 blockade
of all food entering Gaza, nor is it connected to the Israeli- and
U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which replaced the UNRWA
aid system Israel shut down with its own militarized version in late
May. Instead, according to the new Israeli campaign, the blame lies with
the United Nations. “Hundreds of aid trucks have entered Gaza with
Israel’s approval, but the supplies are standing idle, undelivered,” the
Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs declared on X
<https://substack.com/redirect/4b6ab21d-ffb8-4958-8149-2cf38bccd6ae?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>.
“The reason? The UN refuses to distribute the aid.”
Clearly sensing a turning-point in world opinion, as the death toll from
starvation mounts exponentially in Gaza, Israel brought dozens of
sympathetic journalists
<https://substack.com/redirect/8f38432f-94f1-4fe1-90e3-dd11e4a7c21c?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>to
a crossing to wage a PR campaign on Thursday.
Israel’s insistence that the UN must do more when it comes to aid
clashed with its position in “ceasefire” negotiations. In its response
submitted to mediators Thursday, Hamas insisted that any agreement must
allow the UN to resume aid distribution. Israel has rejected that idea.
Prior to March 2, aid was distributed through 400 non-militarized points
throughout Gaza in a system coordinated by the UN. The GHF operates four
points—three in the far southern end of Gaza—all in heavily militarized
zones where Palestinians are shot and shelled on a daily basis as they
try to access them. Even though Israel in the negotiations has been
pretending to demand that the UN distribute aid, Israel has insisted
that the GHF remain in control of aid distribution. Today alone, 19
Palestinians have been killed while seeking aid, according to Al
Jazeera, and at least one woman was killed during a women-only
distribution organized by GHF, Gaza’s medical sources told Drop Site.
The focal point of the Israeli accusation against the UN is a collection
of some 900 aid trucks that have already crossed into Gaza but which
have been unable to distribute the aid. Yet Israel has actively
prevented the UN from distributing aid. Tamara Alrifai, a spokesperson
for UNRWA, told Drop Site that Israeli restrictions on the movement of
the organization’s staff have made distribution impossible. “Claiming
that the UN isn’t picking up food and other urgent supplies, and
promoting images that these goods are just sitting near the crossing is
disingenuous to say the least,” she said. “Since the collapse of the
ceasefire, the government of Israel tightened its already stringent
restrictions even more, giving even less permission to the UN to move
around the Gaza Strip.… The rule is that a UN convoy moves after getting
consent. We as the UN have not been getting sufficient permission to move.”
The UN is eager to deliver aid if Israel is serious, she said. “So the
ask is: let us do our work, give us movement permits, fulfill your
obligation under IHL to protect our passage, then tell us whether we are
fulfilling our job,” said Alrifai. “It’s truly cynical to accuse the UN
of not doing its work after weeks of seeking to bypass the UN via the
GHF and in reality failing to deliver through that so-called
‘humanitarian foundation.’”
At its briefing Thursday, the UN gave its most detailed explanation yet
for why the aid was languishing, with Farhan Haq, deputy spokesperson
for the Secretary-General of the United Nations, citing “a number of
interdependent factors, including bureaucratic, logistical,
administrative, and other operational obstacles imposed by Israeli
authorities; ongoing hostilities and access constraints within Gaza; and
incidents of criminal looting, as well as shooting incidents that have
killed and injured people gathering to offload aid supplies along convoy
routes.”
Last Sunday morning, a UN aid delivery was made by the World Food
Programme (WFP). Head of the WFP Cindy McCain, widow of Sen. John
McCain, condemned what happened next.
“Shortly after passing the final checkpoint beyond the Zikim crossing
point into Gaza, the convoy encountered large crowds of civilians
anxiously waiting to access desperately needed food supplies,” she said.
“As the convoy approached, the surrounding crowd came under fire from
Israeli tanks, snipers and other gunfire. We are deeply concerned and
saddened by this tragic incident resulting in the loss of countless lives.”
The Israeli military had assured her they would not fire on aid seekers,
McCain claimed, yet they did so almost immediately. “Today’s violent
incident comes despite assurances from Israeli authorities that
humanitarian operational conditions would improve; including that armed
forces will not be present nor engage at any stage along humanitarian
convoy routes,” she said. “There should never, ever, be armed groups
near or on our aid convoys, as reiterated on many occasions to all
parties to the conflict.”
“Without these fundamental conditions in place, we cannot continue
providing life-saving support across the Gaza strip,” she said. Over 81
Palestinians were killed and hundreds wounded near the Zikim crossing
that day. The incident left hundreds of trucks with aid still to be
delivered, with Israel immediately beginning to roll out its campaign to
deflect blame to the UN.
UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric called the Israeli accusation “the
theater of the absurd.” He added, “I think we have seen what happens
when Israeli soldiers are near a UN convoy. Right? We saw it. We saw
what happened on Sunday in North Gaza. We saw the victims, and we saw
the death.… Kerem Shalom is not a McDonald’s drive-thru where we just
pull up and pick up what we’ve ordered. And, frankly, I think there’s a
lack of willingness to allow us to do our work.”
Israel continues to reject UN requests by staff to move around Gaza, and
raided the office of the World Health Organization
<https://substack.com/redirect/566a7b47-d330-478b-a00b-054aaf3de8c8?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>in
Deir-al-Balah this week while pressuring other UN and related
organizations to evacuate. “Despite our repeated requests, Israel has
not allowed the UN to be present at the crossings, which are militarized
areas,” Jens Laerke, spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told the AFP news agency. “We therefore
cannot verify the amount of supplies currently at the crossing.”
The same day as the Sunday massacre, Israel moved to expel the head of
OCHA, Jonathan Whittal
<https://substack.com/redirect/c60428ac-be61-4296-916b-585b7a8aadab?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>,
from the country, and announced it would grant only one month visas to
OCHA officials.
In order for distribution to be successful, Laerke explained to AFP,
“they must provide the green light for trucks without unnecessary
delays; allow teams to use multiple, safer routes; and order troops to
stay away from the convoys, and never shoot at civilians along the
allocated routes – or anywhere else…Without the full set of conditions
in place, safe and principled delivery cannot take place at scale. So
even when approved, those missions are often impeded on the ground.”
During an interview on Channel 4, UNRWA Acting Director Sam Rose was
asked about Israel’s claim that it had given permission to the UN to
retrieve the trucks. “They are bombing central Gaza, where the vast
majority of the UN’s capacity right now is situated. There’s literally
no way for United Nations personnel to get out of that area. So no, it
isn’t true. It isn’t true at all,” he said.
Despite the incoherence of the Israeli arguments, the U.S. stepped in
Thursday to elevate them. “This is important for the world to see,” said
U.S. ambassador
<https://substack.com/redirect/7cd1e295-ebc0-46fe-9854-8a59efcc3f7f?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>to
Israel Mike Huckabee, sharing the Israeli footage of aid at the
crossing. “The UN has criticized the US & Israel for the food actually
delivered, but it's the UN who has had massive amounts sitting on
pallets rotting! Let's hope the press will tell the truth about the UN.”
State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce, apparently the last one to
get the memo that the famine is now being acknowledged and pinned on the
UN rather than denied,put forward a wildly different assessment at her
briefing this week,
<https://substack.com/redirect/9018f4f0-e290-4401-83c1-4a2ddf0f4991?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>telling
reporters that the work GHF was doing has been “a tremendous success.”
“GHF did it differently, and the different approach has worked,” said Bruce.
Meanwhile, international pressure on Israel continues to build momentum.
28 countries, including major European powers like France and England,
issued a joint statement
<https://substack.com/redirect/a16ee09b-ec8e-44b8-ac2a-2470ae3ef860?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>on
Monday, saying “the Israeli government to immediately lift restrictions
on the flow of aid and to urgently enable the UN and humanitarian NGOs
to do their life saving work safely and effectively.” Likewise, four of
the world's largest media institutions—AP, AFP, BBC News, and
Reuters—declared “We are desperately concerned for our journalists in
Gaza, who are increasingly unable to feed themselves and their
families." Increasingly, Israel’s supporters are facing international
scrutiny.
The Israeli government’s defiant new PR campaign comes, however, as
supporters of Israel are finally acknowledging that the situation has
become desperate, and has created a major problem for Israel on the
world stage. “It’s actually real and beginning now in a desperate way
and the Israelis had better not allow it and massively uptick aid in a
huge strategic way,” Israeli journalist Haviv Rettig Gur said on a
podcast hosted by The Free Press, a pro-Israel news outlet in the United
States. Rettig Gur cited a new paper by Yannay Spitzer, an assistant
professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, who studied prices of
food in the markets in Deir-al-Balah, finding that they have exploded to
catastrophic levels.
Amit Segal, another outspoken defender of Israel, cited the same report
in raising a similar alarm, warning that a famine “would see Israel lose
even its most strident supporters.”
/This report includes contributions from Herman Gill./
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