ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s envoy to the United Nations on Wednesday criticized the current humanitarian aid delivery mechanism in Gaza, saying it had “morphed into a death trap” for civilians, as hundreds of people have been killed while trying to access basic supplies like food and medicine.
Speaking at a UN Security Council briefing on the humanitarian situation in the Palestinian enclave, Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmed, raised alarm over the dismantling of the earlier UN-coordinated aid system and its replacement by a restricted structure under the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which he said lacked both scale and neutrality.
“The current aid mechanism is clearly failing those it claims to serve,” Ahmed said. “According to the UN Human Rights Office, 798 aid-related killings have occurred since late May, 615 of them at or near distribution sites.
The prior UN-coordinated system of more than 400 well-networked distribution points has been dismantled. In its place, a heavily restricted system under the GHF now operates with just a handful of designated aid sites.”
The Pakistani diplomat noted the situation was forcing desperate civilians to traverse active combat zones in search of basic necessities.
“While some aid has trickled into Gaza, the volume is vastly inadequate,” he added. “Its implementation is flawed, and it falls far short of the standards demanded by international humanitarian law. Most gravely, the system has morphed into a death trap.”
The remarks came amid growing international concern over the humanitarian conditions in Gaza, where more than 58,000 people have been killed and tens of thousands wounded since the start of Israeli military operations in October 2023.
Aid groups and UN agencies have warned that fuel, food and medical supplies are nearing critical shortages, while bureaucratic hurdles and border closures continue to delay relief deliveries.
Ahmed urged the Security Council to back the restoration of “full, unhindered and impartial humanitarian access” through UN-led channels, including the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and to push for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire.
“The world cannot stand by as Gaza is starved and shattered,” he said. “Let us not grow numb to the daily toll: it is not just another headline, another ticker, another statistic. Behind each number is a life: a person with a story, a dream extinguished a family torn apart.”
