By Michelle Nichols
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) -The United States is watching to ensure that Israel's actions on the ground show that it does not have a "policy of starvation" in the northern Gaza Strip, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the Security Council on Wednesday.
She told the 15-member council that such a policy would be "horrific and unacceptable and would have implications under international law and U.S. law."
"The Government of Israel has said that this is not their policy, that food and other essential supplies will not be cut off, and we will be watching to see that Israel's actions on the ground match this statement," Thomas-Greenfield said, in a ratcheting up of the U.S. posture toward its longtime ally.
The United States has told Israel that it must take steps in the next 30 days to improve the humanitarian situation in the Palestinian enclave or face potential restrictions on U.S. military aid, U.S. officials said on Tuesday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened an emergency meeting on Wednesday to discuss expanding humanitarian aid to Gaza, three officials who had attended the discussion said, with aid likely to increase soon.
"Food and supplies must be surged into Gaza, immediately. And there must be humanitarian pauses across Gaza to allow for vaccinations and the delivery and distribution of humanitarian aid," Thomas-Greenfield said.
A deadly attack on southern Israel by Palestinian Hamas militants on Oct. 7, 2023, triggered Israel's retaliation in Hamas-run Gaza, sparking a humanitarian crisis in the besieged enclave. Authorities say more than 42,000 people have been killed and almost the entire population of 2.3 million displaced.
Israel's U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon told the council that the issue in Gaza was not a lack of aid, saying more than 1 million tons had been delivered during the past year. He accused Hamas of hijacking the humanitarian assistance.
"Israel, along with our international partners, continues to flood Gaza with aid, but it will never reach all those in need as long as Hamas remains in power," he said. "Hamas has weaponized the humanitarian situation."
Hamas has repeatedly denied Israeli allegations that it was stealing aid and says Israel is to blame for shortages.
'UNCONSCIONABLE'
The U.N. has long complained of obstacles to getting aid into Gaza and distributing it throughout the war zone, blaming impediments on Israel and lawlessness. The U.N. said no food aid entered northern Gaza between Oct. 2 and Oct. 15.
"Given the abject conditions and intolerable suffering in north Gaza, the fact that humanitarian access is nearly nonexistent is unconscionable," acting U.N. aid chief Joyce Msuya told the council.
On Wednesday, the Israeli military unit that oversees aid and commercial shipments to Gaza said 50 trucks carrying food, water, medical supplies, and shelter equipment provided by Jordan were transferred to northern Gaza.
Msuya said that throughout Gaza less than a third of the 286 humanitarian missions coordinated with Israel during the past two weeks were facilitated without major incidents or delays.
She said that on Oct. 12 a humanitarian team reached two hospitals in northern Gaza after they were denied or impeded by Israeli forces nine times. They transferred more than a dozen critical patients to Al Shifa hospital in Gaza City.
"These missions were completed amid fierce ongoing hostilities," said Msuya, adding that drivers in the convoy "were subjected to humiliating treatment during security screening and temporary detention" at an Israeli checkpoint.
"Medical staff kept one child alive by hand pumping oxygen for over seven hours until they made it through the checkpoint," she said.
Danon cited the recent medical mission as an example of Israel's "comprehensive" humanitarian efforts, adding that "as always, we acted in accordance with international law, going above and beyond our obligations."
Danon also spoke about the start of a second round of polio vaccinations on Monday by the U.N. children's agency UNICEF and the World Health Organization, targeting 590,000 children under the age of 10 during area-specific pauses in fighting.
Algeria's U.N. Ambassador Amar Bendjama questioned Israel's humanitarian efforts.
"How is it possible that we can vaccinate these children yet we cannot feed them?" he said. "The inevitable conclusion is that this is not ... collateral damage, but a deliberate calculated Israeli policy of starvation."