European leaders, aid groups criticise Israeli aid plans for Gaza

By James Mackenzie and Emma Farge

European leaders and aid groups have criticised Israeli plans to take over distribution of humanitarian aid in Gaza and use private companies to get food to families after two months in which the military has prevented supplies entering the Strip.

Israel has given few details of its aid plans, which are part of an expanded operation announced on Monday that could include seizing the entire Palestinian enclave.

For now, the blockade will continue until a large-scale displacement of people from northern and central areas of Gaza to the south, where a specially designated area protected by the Israeli military will be cleared near the southern city of Rafah, Israeli officials have said.

They said those entering the zone will be vetted by Israeli forces to ensure that supplies do not reach Hamas, with what aid agencies have described as special "hubs" to handle distribution by private contractors.

Israel has cleared around a third of the territory to create "security zones" and the aid policy, combined with plans for moving much of the population to the south, have reinforced fears that the overall intention is full occupation.

U.N. agencies, aid groups and European leaders condemned Israel's plans, calling for the aid blockade to be lifted and for supplies to be distributed by humanitarian organisations that are not party to the conflict.

The European Union said humanitarian aid "must never be politicised or militarised", echoing concerns expressed by leaders including Germany's newly elected Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron, who said the situation in Gaza was "the worst we've ever seen".

European Union foreign ministers meeting in Warsaw will discuss EU-Israel relations on Thursday following a request by Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp, the EU's Foreign Policy Chief Kaja Kallas told reporters on Wednesday.

The letter in which Veldkamp made the request, seen by Reuters, stated that relations between the EU and Israel must align with human rights and democratic values under the EU-Israel Association Agreement.

"In my view, the humanitarian blockade is a violation of Israel's obligations under International Humanitarian Law and thereby of ... the Association Agreement," Veldkamp wrote.

U.N. humanitarian agency OCHA said on Tuesday that what Israel was proposing was "the opposite of what is needed". However, aid officials have also said they have limited insight into the plan, on which they have only been briefed verbally.

AID DISTRIBUTION

Aid officials have frequently accused Israel of deliberately disregarding the complexity of aid distribution in an environment such as Gaza, laid waste by 19 months of a war that has destroyed much of its infrastructure and displaced almost all of its 2.3 million population several times.

Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, said on the social media platform X that it was "totally wrong" for one party in a conflict to be distributing aid.

"This new Israeli aid plan is both totally insufficient to meet the needs in Gaza, and a complete breach of all humanitarian principles," he said.

Israel has accused agencies including the United Nations of allowing large quantities of aid to fall into the hands of Hamas, which it accuses of seizing supplies intended for civilians and using them for its own forces.

"If Hamas continues to steal the aid from the people as well as earning money from it, the war will continue forever," Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said in a statement.

However, aid agencies say the plan would compel a transfer of civilians from the north to the south, contributing to conditions that could lead to them being forced out of Gaza permanently.

Israeli hardliners have made no secret of their desire to see the Palestinian population moved out of Gaza, with politicians including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich declaring the plan would result in a full occupation of Gaza.

An earlier Israeli plan, known as the General Eiland plan, foresaw severe restrictions on aid to Gaza as a way of choking off supplies to Hamas, and Israeli hardliners have often harked back to that.

Many Palestinians believe Israel's ultimate aim is to use aid as leverage to force them to leave and to occupy Gaza.

In Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa denounced what he described as international silence and inaction.

"Do not let the besieged children of Gaza starve to death," he said.