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The United States and Israel are at odds with the United Nations over a new aid program for Gaza. Israel says that a private foundation backed by the U.S. is now working to get food to those in need, but U.N. officials say it violates basic principles of neutrality. NPR's Michele Kelemen reports.
MICHELE KELEMEN, BYLINE: The Trump istration describes the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation as a, quote, "bold, out-of-the-box effort to make life better for Gazans." Israeli forces and security contractors with two U.S. companies are guarding aid sites that were overrun the first day, as Palestinians scrambled to get one of the 8,000 food boxes that would feed a family for several days. Israel's ambassador to the U.N., Danny Danon, downplayed the chaotic start of this new effort.
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DANNY DANON: There were a few riots. It took the American team some time to take control of the situation. But I can say it out loud, we didn't shoot anyone over there.
KELEMEN: The United Nations is not taking part in the program that's widely seen as part of Israel's efforts to force Palestinians to move to Southern Gaza. The foundation's first leader - a U.S. marine veteran - quit over the weekend, saying the plan did not adhere to basic humanitarian principles of neutrality. U.N. envoy Sigrid Kaag puts it this way.
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SIGRID KAAG: I think the privatization of aid and the weaponization of aid is a very dangerous precedent.
KELEMEN: For now the U.N. is working in parallel. Kaag told the U.N. Security Council that after a three-month blockade, Israel has allowed the U.N. to deliver some aid in recent days.
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KAAG: But this is comparable to a lifeboat after the ship has sunk.
KELEMEN: She says the entire population in Gaza is facing the risk of famine. The security council also heard harrowing testimony from an American trauma surgeon who has volunteered in Gaza. Feroze Sidhwa said he witnessed in his words, "the destruction of Gaza's health care system."
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FEROZE SIDHWA: This is a deliberate denial of conditions necessary for life - food, shelter, water and medicine. Preventing genocide means refusing to normalize these atrocities.
KELEMEN: The U.S. argues that the war would end if Hamas would release hostages taken more than 600 days ago. It's also calling on the U.N. to cooperate with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Israel's ambassador, Danon, says the U.N. is doing the opposite, pressing others not to take part.
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DANON: Did the shakedown by U.N. mobsters. How can they do that?
KELEMEN: Danon says the U.N. hasn't even picked up 400 trucks that are waiting at one of the crossing points. The U.N.'s Sigrid Kaag says the Israelis have been changing the rules and pressing their military offensive.
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KAAG: The point is, we need to reach all people in Gaza. They shouldn't be displaced again and again, just to receive aid.
KELEMEN: And she says there must be far more aid getting in. Just today, hundreds of Palestinians broke into a U.N. warehouse in Gaza. At least four people died in the stampede, according to local hospital sources. Michele Kelemen, NPR News, the State Department.
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