"Unacceptable act"

USA: Hamas intercepted aid supplies in the Gaza Strip

An aid delivery for the Gaza Strip (symbolic image)

(Bild: APA Pool/Associated Press)

The US government has accused the terrorist organization Hamas of intercepting aid supplies for the Gaza Strip on a large scale for the first time. US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in Washington on Thursday that it was a delivery that had been brought into the coastal area from Jordan via the newly opened Erez border crossing.

"It was then picked up by a humanitarian organization for distribution in Gaza, and that aid was intercepted and diverted by Hamas on the ground in Gaza," Miller said. As he understands it, the goods have since been released and handed back to the humanitarian organization. "But that doesn't change the fact that this is an unacceptable act."

Miller: Such actions jeopardize aid deliveries
Miller said this was the first major case of Hamas diverting aid. He warned the group that such actions endanger aid deliveries to the Palestinian civilian population in Gaza in general and called for this not to happen again.

North of the Gaza Strip particularly affected by hunger
The humanitarian situation in the sealed-off Gaza Strip is catastrophic. The people there are in urgent need of food and medicine. Following international pressure, particularly from the USA, Israel opened the Erez border crossing in northern Gaza on Wednesday. The north of the coastal region is particularly affected by food shortages.