Jordanian Foreign Minister Safadi Values Israel Has Hampered The Entry Of Aid Into The Gaza Strip

A humanitarian aid truck from Egypt entered Gaza via Rafah. (Twitter/@PalestinineRCS)

JAKARTA - Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said on Tuesday, Israel provided many obstacles to the entry of aid into the Gaza Strip, exacerbating the suffering of Palestinians in the region.

Speaking at a joint press conference from Australia Foreign Minister Penny Wong, Foreign Minister Safadi said the obstacle caused only 10 percent of the total needs of more than two million Gazans to be met.

"The reality now is that Israel's actions hinder the entry of sufficient aid and only a small part are distributed," he said.

Israel, which filtered through goods entering Gaza and withheld aid deemed to be used for military purposes by the Hamas militant group, denied having hindered aid.

Israel has also prevented aid from reaching northern Gaza, where Israeli bombardment and occupation for weeks have destroyed infrastructure and most of its residential buildings, Foreign Minister Safadi said.

Earlier, the United Nations humanitarian office said on Friday the Israeli government had systematically rejected their access to northern Gaza to deliver aid and this significantly hampered humanitarian operations there.

Jordan, who is at the forefront of Arab countries pushing Israel to provide more assistance, is the only country that sends aid to Gaza to its two military field hospitals.

This has succeeded in making Israel allow the World Food Program (WFP) to send shipments to Gaza by another land route starting from Jordan, which has helped reduce pressure on the main Rafah border crossing, whose capacity is limited.

"Even the aid that came did not reach all of Gaza, some of which arrived in the south and when we talked about the north, there were major obstacles to Israel blocking aid deliveries there," said Foreign Minister Safadi.

Foreign Minister Safadi also blamed Israel for not heeding calls for UN Security Council resolutions adopted last month, calling for unrestricted humanitarian access and expanding humanitarian access.

"Unfortunately this has not happened until now and this is due to Israel's refusal to provide sufficient assistance and refusing to adopt more effective ways to speed up aid deliveries," said Foreign Minister Safadi.