Gaza Genocide13 July, 20262 min read
UN Official Ramiz Alakbarov Accuses Hamas Of Obstructing Gaza Aid And Intimidating Workers
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UN Deputy Special Coordinator Ramiz Alakbarov accuses Hamas of obstructing Gaza aid and intimidating workers. Hamas rejects the accusation as unfounded.
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UN accuses, Hamas denies
A senior United Nations official accused Hamas of obstructing humanitarian deliveries in Gaza and intimidating aid workers, warning that the group’s actions were making relief operations increasingly dangerous.
UN Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Ramiz Alakbarov said he "strongly" condemned the obstruction of humanitarian operations by Gaza’s de facto authorities, referring to Hamas.
Hamas rejected the accusation, with a Gaza interior ministry official calling it unfounded and saying, "These are baseless accusations. The police and security forces continue to protect aid trucks and distribution centres and facilitate the work of international and humanitarian organisations,".
Alakbarov said armed men linked to Hamas forcibly entered the Abu Rashid food distribution point in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip, and entered a World Food Programme warehouse where they reportedly assaulted two truck drivers delivering humanitarian supplies.
Pattern of intimidation
Alakbarov said the incidents were "not isolated" and "reflect an increasingly dangerous pattern of intimidation, violence and obstruction, including smuggling attempts, targeting and abusing humanitarian operations," as civilians across Gaza faced severe hardships. Hamas said it "categorically reject[s] the language of incitement, the distortion of facts, and the manufactured narrative presented in the statement," and argued the WFP distribution centre was not attacked or raided.
In Hamas’s account, the site was instead the location of an "official law enforcement operation" carried out after the discovery of smuggled items "concealed inside humanitarian aid parcels," and it said a unit of Palestinian police uncovered an attempt to exploit humanitarian convoys to smuggle cigarettes and mobile phone screens. The dispute unfolded as Israel and Hamas had reached a ceasefire in Gaza in October following two years of war, but the second phase—covering Hamas’s disarmament and a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces—has been stalled for months.
Humanitarian access at stake
The UN warning tied the accusations to the delivery of life-saving assistance, with Alakbarov saying Hamas’s actions were hampering humanitarian operations at a time when civilians across Gaza faced severe hardships. The Gaza interior ministry official insisted police "will not allow any attacks on humanitarian workers," while COGAT, the Israeli Defense Ministry body in charge of civilian matters in the Palestinian territories, said the accusation was evidence that Hamas "cynically exploits the humanitarian space" for its own purposes.
The sources also placed the dispute within a broader ceasefire framework: Israel has expanded its presence in recent months, taking control of more than 60 percent of the territory, while Hamas still exerts control over the remaining area. Casualty figures cited in the reporting underscored the stakes, with Arab News saying that "At least 1,098 Palestinians have been killed since the truce took effect" according to the territory’s Health Ministry, whose figures are considered reliable by the UN.