Briefing to journalists by Jonathan Whittall, Head of OCHA OPT

Opening Remarks at Press Briefing

Jerusalem, 28 May 2025

(As prepared for delivery)

Thank you for taking the time to join this briefing at such a critical moment for Gaza, for Palestinians and for the humanitarian response.

Today marks 600 days of horror in Gaza. Yesterday, we saw tens of thousands of desperate people – under fire – storming a militarized distribution point established on the rubble of their homes. Nearly 50 people were reportedly shot and injured. These events illustrate how the collective punishment of Palestinians continues and the assault on their human dignity is accelerating.

The newly developed distribution scheme is more than just the control of aid. It is engineered scarcity: four distribution hubs located in central and southern Gaza, secured by private US security contractors, where those Palestinians who can reach them will receive rations.

One of these hubs is near the spot where Israeli forces killed and buried in a mass grave 15 first responders. For me this is a grotesque symbol of how life in Gaza, and that which sustains it, is being erased and controlled.

The new distribution model cannot possibly meet Gaza's needs. Knowingly designing a plan that falls short of minimum obligations under international law, is essentially an admission of guilt.

The US-backed entity that has been created to deliver on this plan institutionalizes Israel's restrictions on aid delivery from the outset. This is not humanitarianism. Humanitarian action would seek to reach all civilians wherever they are, and would push back on measures to limit aid, instead of accepting these conditions upfront. This new scheme is surveillance-based rationing that legitimizes a policy of deprivation by design. And it comes at a time when people in Gaza, half of whom are children, are facing a crisis of survival.

Israel has publicly claimed that the UN and NGO aid is being diverted by Hamas. But this doesn't hold up to scrutiny. We do not have evidence that aid coordinated through credible humanitarian channels has been diverted. Aid coordinated through the UN system made up for 35 per cent of what entered during the ceasefire. We have no oversight on those supplies which were facilitated to enter by Israel through other channels.

The real theft of aid since the beginning of the war has been carried out by criminal gangs, under the watch of Israeli forces, and they were allowed to operate in proximity to the Kerem Shalom crossing point into Gaza.

The challenge facing humanitarian operations in Gaza isn't the unfounded claim of UN aid diversion, neither is it the so-called inability of the UN to deliver. During the last ceasefire, when restrictions on aid delivery were eased, coordinated humanitarian agencies demonstrated they could deliver aid effectively. Of course we can make improvements to our systems. But ultimately, when we are enabled, we can work. There is no logistical solution to the political decision to obstruct aid.

Today we are facing challenges in collecting goods from Kerem Shalom crossing because of escalating insecurity; long delays in receiving the needed approvals from forces on the ground to move; we are given inappropriate routes to transport goods; the desperation of crowds that are looting some of our cargo and because of the restrictions placed by Israeli authorities that we can only deliver flour to bakeries. These bakeries are overwhelmed by crowds, and many have had to shut down.

While our work continues to be obstructed, the changes to the distribution system are being rolled out. This is happening in tandem with Israel's escalating air and ground offensive, that has further dismantled the means of survival in the strip by destroying Gaza's hospitals, bakeries and water sources.

The message that is being sent through the establishment of these militarized hubs appears to be that in Gaza, survival is a privilege, granted only to those who comply with a military plan that has been described by an Israeli minister as being to "conquer, clear and stay."

The UN has refused to participate in this scheme, warning that it is logistically unworkable and violates humanitarian principles by using aid as a tool in Israel's broader efforts to depopulate areas of Gaza. It doesn’t have to be this way: We need our existing system to be enabled.

Humanitarian agencies have the capacity to help feed Gaza and provide other life-saving and life-sustaining services and supplies. We are ready to work. We are ready to deliver directly to families as we always have. We are being denied from doing so, because it appears that the intention from Israel is not to facilitate an efficient aid response at scale.

The International Court of Justice has ruled on provisional measures that continue to be blatantly ignored. Governments around the world must finally enforce the political and economic pressure needed to stop these atrocities.