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UN says Hamas stole aid intended for Gazans

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency, which provides assistance to Palestinian refugees, said Wednesday that the Hamas police force in Gaza had seized aid supplies intended for the desperately needy from a distribution store in a Gaza refugee camp, signaling tensions between the agency and the Islamic rulers of the Palestinian enclave.

The UN agency said it condemned the Hamas action “in the strongest terms.”

On Tuesday afternoon, the agency said in a statement, the police confiscated about 3,500 blankets and more than 400 food parcels meant to help hundreds of families in the Gaza City Beach Camp. It was part of the emergency aid being distributed after Israel’s 22-day military offensive in Gaza that ended Jan. 18.

According to the statement, the incident took place “after Unrwa staff had earlier refused to hand over the aid supplies to the Hamas-run Ministry of Social Affairs. The police subsequently broke into the warehouse and seized the aid by force.”

Christopher Gunness, a spokesman for the refugee agency, said it was the first time its supplies had been seized in such a way. He added: “They were armed and we were not.”