“The plan appears designed to reinforce control over life‑sustaining items as a pressure tactic and will drive further displacement,” UNICEF spokesperson James Elder told a briefing, calling it a choice “between displacement and death.”
Competing blueprints
A draft circulated among relief agencies this week outlines a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation that would funnel food to roughly 300,000 people per hub.
The concept echoes an Israeli plan unveiled on Tuesday and touted by U.S. diplomats as being just “steps away” from implementation.
Aid groups have rejected any arrangement that involves Israel—the occupying power—in direct distribution.
U.S. ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee insisted on Friday the hubs would be “neutral” and run without Israeli hands‑on control.
Risks of new displacement
UNICEF said forcing civilians to travel to fixed sites would expose families to insecurity en route and further uproot the enclave’s 2.3 million residents already battered by 19 months of war.
Elder urged Israel to lift its two‑month‑old blockade on commercial and relief shipments instead.
“There is a simple alternative: open the crossings and let aid in,” he said.
(jh)
Source: Reuters, Middle East Monitor