The head of the World Food Programme said on Sunday that the UN-linked organisation has “not seen a plan” on aid distribution from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
“Look, we will work with anybody to feed,” Cindy McCain told ABC's This Week. “This is the kind of thing, that at this level of desperation, we've got to work together on trying to feed people.”
Ms McCain said that she has not personally been in contact with the US-backed foundation that began distributing aid in the war-torn enclave this week amid an Israeli blockade, though there have been some meetings with representatives in Europe.
“We've not seen a plan. We've been a part of some of those meetings ... but again, we've seen no plan,” she said.
“It's not about [being] not willing to work with people. We need the access. We need the Israelis to let us in so we can do our job … we are the best at what we do.”
Her comments come after dozens were killed when Israeli soldiers opened fire as people walked to collect food from an aid centre set up by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in Rafah, according to the enclave's Health Ministry. Ms McCain said that WFP contacts on the ground had confirmed the reports, but both Israel and the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation have denied any incident took place.
Israel and the US have long claimed that aid cannot be responsibly delivered to Gaza because Hamas loots and hoards it for its fighters or extorts high prices from locals by selling it on – something Ms McCain has previously denied. Israel has also blocked UN and related organisations from entering and distributing aid.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, supported by both Israel and US, has been tasked with setting up aid sites secured by American private security contractors.
Critics say the foundation is going against humanitarian principles by forcing people to move to distribution sites to get food, and that it is militarising aid distribution.
The UN has said that despite the operations of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, Israel is only allowing a “teaspoon” of aid into the enclave.
“We were getting in over 600 trucks a day during the ceasefire into Gaza,” Ms McCain said, referring to the truce that collapsed in March. “They [Gazans] didn't have the feel of desperation. They knew food was coming. They knew they had access to food right now – and now they don't.”
Ms McCain called for an immediate ceasefire and complete, unfettered humanitarian access. “If we don't do that, it's going to be a humanitarian catastrophe like none other,” she said.
