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United Nations humanitarian operations in the Gaza Strip have ground to a halt, at least temporarily, after the Israeli military ordered the organization to evacuate Deir al-Balah, its main hub in the territory, a senior U.N. official told reporters at a briefing on Monday.
U.N. security personnel were working with the Israeli authorities to resume humanitarian work in Gaza as soon as possible, said the U.N. official, who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity. The Israeli authorities were also working with the U.N. to facilitate the movement of aid, the U.N. official said.
Humanitarian work in Gaza is coordinated with the Israeli authorities, who can slow or stop such efforts depending on security concerns in the area. The Israeli authorities were able to facilitate fewer than half of the planned humanitarian missions and movements in the Gaza Strip in the first few weeks of August, the U.N. office of humanitarian affairs said in a report on Friday, with more than half of all missions and movements blocked, delayed, impeded or canceled.
“The high number of aid missions that the Israeli authorities do not facilitate means that people who barely have the means to survive — access to clean drinking water, adequate food and shelter, to name a few — are often left with nothing at all,” Georgios Petropoulos, the leader of the U.N. office’s Gaza mission, said in a statement to The New York Times.
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The Gaza Coordination and Liaison Administration, an Israeli agency that coordinates humanitarian activities, did not respond to a request for comment. The Israeli military directed comments to COGAT, the Israeli body that oversees policy in the Palestinian territories and that oversees the coordination and liaison administration.
The U.N. humanitarian affairs office on Friday warned that “ongoing intense fighting, damaged roads, a breakdown of law and order and access challenges along the main humanitarian route” have led to critical food shortages in Gaza. The number of children diagnosed with acute malnutrition through arm screenings increased substantially across Gaza between May and July, it reported, noting that since January, 14,750 children ages 6 months to nearly 5 years, out of 239,580 screened, had been diagnosed with acute malnutrition.
Anushka Patil contributed reporting.
Key Developments
An Israeli airstrike on the Nur Shams refugee camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank killed at least five Palestinians on Monday, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, which said two of the five were teenagers. Israel’s military said on social media that it had attacked “an operations room” in the area but did not give additional details. The United Nations said last week that Israeli airstrikes on the West Bank had killed 128 Palestinians, including 26 children, since the war began in Gaza on Oct. 7.
A crude-oil tanker burning in the Red Sea may lead to “environmental disaster,” Matthew Miller, the State Department spokesman, said in a statement on Monday. He added that the tanker threatened to “spill a million barrels of oil,” or about four times as much oil as that released in the Exxon Valdez disaster off Alaska in 1989, and that the United States was “gravely concerned.” The crew of the Greek-flagged ship targeted last week was rescued, but the ship has been aflame ever since. Mr. Miller called on the Yemen-based Houthis to stop the attacks. The militia group backed by Iran has been striking commercial ships in the Red Sea in allegiance with Hamas in Gaza.
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Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III has extended the tour of the Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier in the Middle East, the Pentagon said on Monday, reflecting the tensions in the region and persistent concern that Iran will retaliate for the assassination of a senior Hamas leader in Tehran.
Mr. Austin decided over the weekend to prolong the Roosevelt’s time in the region, Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, told reporters on Monday, meaning that the United States will have two carriers and their accompanying warships there in the coming days.
The Pentagon’s decision comes after Israel and Hezbollah fired rockets, missiles and drones at each other over the weekend. Hezbollah had responded to the bombardment of southern Lebanon on Sunday by Israeli military aircraft to stop what Israel said were preparations for a major attack by the Lebanese-based militant group.
John Kirby, the White House’s national security spokesman, said, “We’re maintaining a pretty robust force posture there to be able to defend ourselves and defend Israel should it have come to that.”
He called Hezbollah’s attack on Israel over the weekend significant enough to prompt the movement of additional American forces into the region.
“What Hezbollah launched into the early morning hours Sunday was certainly a sizable attack,” Mr. Kirby said, “different in scope than what we tend to see on a daily basis between Israel and Hezbollah. Hopefully, it won’t.”
The carrier Abraham Lincoln arrived recently in the Gulf of Oman, where the Roosevelt has been operating. The Roosevelt had been scheduled to depart this week, but General Ryder declined to say how much longer the ship would remain in the region. Another Pentagon official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss operational matters, said it would be about two weeks.
The Pentagon’s move comes even as Israel and Hezbollah appeared to de-escalate after firing rockets, missiles and drones at each other over the weekend, averting a wider Middle East war, at least for now. But General Ryder said the United States must take seriously vows by Iran to avenge the killing of Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’s political leader, last month.
Israel’s military has not commented on the assassination. But Hamas and Iran have blamed Israel for the killing, and U.S. intelligence has assessed that Israel was behind it.
“We continue to assess that there is a threat of attack, and we remain well postured to be able to support Israel’s defense, as well as to protect our forces,” General Ryder said.
As part of a coordination between the U.S. and Israeli militaries, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, chief of the general staff of the Israeli military, met with the U.S. chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., during his visit to Israel this week, the Israeli military said in a statement.
The commanders discussed security, strategic issues and strengthening regional partnerships as part of the response to threats in the Middle East, the statement said.
Johnatan Reiss contributed reporting from Tel Aviv, and Michael D. Shear from Washington.
— Eric Schmitt reporting from Washington
