Play all audios:
GENEVA, May 27 (Reuters) - The work of a U.S.-backed private humanitarian organization tasked with distributing aid in Gaza is a distraction from what is needed, such as the opening of
crossing points, a U.N. spokesperson said on Tuesday. The GHF, which began as an Israeli-initiated plan and has drawn criticism from the United Nations and others, said on Monday it began
distributing supplies in Gaza. This follows an Israeli blockade for 11 weeks that was only partially lifted in recent days and that prompted a famine warning from a global hunger monitor and
international criticism. "We do not participate in this modality for the reasons given. It is a distraction from what is actually needed (...)," Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the
U.N. humanitarian office (OCHA) told a Geneva briefing, calling for the reopening of all crossings. He also called for an end to Israeli restrictions on the type of aid being allowed to
enter the enclave, which he said was being "cherry picked" and did not always match needs. Israel is in charge of vetting all aid entering Gaza and regularly rejects a wide array
of items it considers could be put to military use by militant group Hamas. It says the new system is aimed at separating aid from Hamas, which it accuses of stealing and using food to
impose control over the population, a charge rejected by Hamas, which says it protects aid convoys from gangs of armed looters. Juliette Touma, communications director of the U.N.
Palestinian refugee agency, said that it had large medical shipments waiting that have been denied entry into Gaza. "We have over 3000 trucks, not only of food, but also medicines that
are lining up in places like Jordan, like Egypt, that are waiting for the green light to go in, and they're carrying medicines and that is expiring soon," she said. Reporting by
Emma Farge, editing by Thomas Seythal and Sharon Singleton Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. * Suggested Topics: * Middle East * Government Health Policy Emma Farge
reports on the U.N. beat and Swiss news from Geneva since 2019. She has produced a string of exclusives on diplomacy, the environment and global trade and covered Switzerland’s first war
crimes trial. Her Reuters career started in 2009 covering oil swaps from London and she has since written about the West African Ebola outbreak, embedded with U.N. troops in north Mali and
was the first reporter to enter deposed Gambian dictator Yahya Jammeh’s estate. She co-authored a winning story for the Elizabeth Neuffer Memorial Prize on Russia’s diplomatic isolation in
2022 and was also part of a team of journalists nominated in 2012 as Pulitzer finalists in the international reporting category for coverage of the Libyan revolution. She holds a BA from
Oxford University (First) and an MSc from the LSE in International Relations. She is currently on the board of the press association for UN correspondents in Geneva (ACANU).