Israel: IPC Gaza report claiming ongoing food insecurity reflects blatant, deliberate disregard for reality
"The report relies on severe gaps in data collection and on faulty sources, misleading, fueling disinformation, and presenting a false depiction of the reality'
Israel on Friday responded to the latest IPC report alleging persisting and acute "food insecurity" in Gaza after the ceasefire, slamming the conclusions as biased, predetermined and detached from reality.
The IPC report comes days after the revelation that during the war Hamas hoarded baby formula in Gaza, limiting aid to civilians, to inflict public relations damage on Israel.
The IDF's Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, Maj. Gen. Ghassan Alian, issued a statement lambasting the IPC report's "blatant, biased, and deliberate disregard for the volumes of food that entered during the ceasefire," adding that "the distorted conclusions were written in advance."
"The report relies on severe gaps in data collection and on sources that do not reflect the full scope of humanitarian assistance. As such, it misleads the international community, fuels disinformation, and presents a false depiction of the reality on the ground," the response read.
Contrary to the claims in the report, Alian wrote, "between 600-800 aid trucks enter the Gaza Strip every day, approximately 70 percent of which carry food. The remainder carry medical equipment, shelter supplies, tents, clothing, and other essential humanitarian assistance. This is in accordance with Israel’s commitment under the ceasefire agreement to allow and facilitate the entry of 4,200 aid trucks per week. In this context, nearly 30,000 food trucks carrying more than 500,000 tons of food entered the Gaza Strip throughout the ceasefire period.
"We also note that throughout the war, approximately 100,000 food trucks entered the Gaza Strip until the start of the ceasefire. These quantities significantly exceed the nutritional requirements of the population in the Gaza Strip according to accepted international methodologies, including those of the UN World Food Programme (WFP)."
Moreover, the spokesperson asserted, these data are fully and freely available, being "presented daily as part of joint situational assessments to the mediators, the UN, and international organizations, which are directly aware of Israel’s commitment to upholding the agreements, even in the face of Hamas’s blatant and ongoing violations."
All humanitarian aid enters the Palestinian enclave "in full coordination with the UN, international organizations, donor countries, and the private sector. However, it should be noted that only about 20 percent of the humanitarian aid entering the Gaza Strip is delivered via the UN, while the remainder is delivered by countries, additional international organizations, and the private sector. This fact illustrates the severe gap between the actual volume of aid and the partial data on which, among other things, the IPC report relies."
The manner of the IPC's reporting, which the IDF said casts grave doubts regarding its integrity and professionalism, is fully consistent with its previous reporting on the situation, Alian added.