UN tells Israel it will suspend aid operations across Gaza without improved safety
Associated PressWASHINGTON — Senior U.N. officials have warned Israel that they will suspend the world body’s aid operations across Gaza unless Israel acts urgently to better protect humanitarian workers, two U.N. officials said Tuesday. A U.N. letter sent to Israeli officials this month said Israel must provide U.N. workers with a way to communicate directly with Israeli forces on the ground in Gaza, among other steps, the officials said. Dujarric called conditions for aid workers in the territory “increasingly intolerable.” But he said the U.N. was “pushing all its contacts” with the Israelis to resolve the problems and noted that “the U.N. will not turn its back on the people of Gaza.” U.S. officials are talking with the U.N. and Israeli military to try to help resolve U.N. concerns, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters Tuesday. While U.S. and Israeli officials said no part of the pier itself was used in the raid that rescued four hostages taken by Hamas, U.N. officials said any perception in Gaza that the project was used in the Israeli military operation may endanger their aid work.