JERUSALEM, July 13 (Reuters) - A United Nations official has said Palestinian militant group Hamas was disrupting aid distribution in the Gaza Strip, placing further hardship on its civilians already grappling with the humanitarian crisis in the war-shattered enclave.
In a statement late on Sunday, the U.N.'s humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian territories said humanitarian workers had to halt activity on Saturday after armed men entered a food distribution point in northern Gaza and assaulted
two truck drivers in a World Food Program warehouse.
"These incidents are not isolated. They are completely unacceptable and reflect an increasingly dangerous pattern of intimidation, violence and obstruction, including smuggling attempts, targeting and abusing humanitarian operations," said U.N. Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Ramiz Alakbarov.
"They are placing humanitarian workers at risk, disrupting the delivery of life-saving assistance, and further constraining the ability of humanitarian organizations to operate at a time when civilians across Gaza continue to face immense and pressing humanitarian conditions," Alakbarov said.
Hamas on Monday denied the allegations. Its media office said the police forces involved were on a law enforcement operation after receiving reports of smuggled cigarettes and mobile phone components concealed inside aid parcels.
"The incident at the World Food Programme (WFP) food distribution center in the Abu Rashid area of Jabalia Refugee Camp was neither a 'raid,' an 'attack,' nor an 'obstruction' of humanitarian work, as falsely claimed," Hamas said.
More than two-and-a-half years after the Gaza war was triggered by Hamas's October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, much of the enclave remains in ruins.
Israel's devastating aerial and ground bombardment displaced nearly the entire population of two million people, most of whom now live in tents or damaged buildings in a narrow coastal strip of territory still governed by Hamas.
Israeli troops remain in control of more than 60% of the territory, including all its access points. Ceasefire talks meant to see Hamas disarmed and Israel withdraw from Gaza have been faltering for months.
(Reporting by Maayan Lubell and Steven Scheer in Jerusalem and Nidal al-Mughrabi in Cairo)
