United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks at the UN headquarters in New York City, US, before a meeting about the conflict in Gaza, Nov. 6, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Caitlin Ochs

A senior United Nations official has issued a rare and pointedly worded rebuke of Hamas, accusing the terrorist group of violently obstructing humanitarian aid deliveries in Gaza and subjecting relief workers to a pattern of intimidation, theft, and physical assault.

In a statement released Sunday, Dr. Ramiz Alakbarov, the UN Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and the world body’s top humanitarian official for the Palestinian territories, warned of an increasingly hostile environment for personnel trying to feed civilians in the enclave — though he stopped short of naming Hamas, referring to the group only as the “de facto authorities.”

“I strongly condemn the recent obstruction of humanitarian operations in Gaza by the de facto authorities, which endangered humanitarian personnel, intimidated workers delivering lifesaving food assistance and disrupted life-saving humanitarian operations,” Alakbarov said.

The latest flashpoint, according to the UN, came on Saturday in northern Gaza, when armed personnel affiliated with the Hamas-run authorities forcibly breached the Abu Rashid food distribution point in Jabalia, forcing aid workers to halt distribution. The armed men also entered a World Food Programme (WFP) warehouse and reportedly assaulted two truck drivers who were delivering emergency supplies.

“These incidents are not isolated. They are completely unacceptable and reflect an increasingly dangerous pattern of intimidation, violence and obstruction, including smuggling attempts, targeting and abusing humanitarian operations,” Alakbarov said, adding that such acts were “placing humanitarian workers at risk, disrupting the delivery of life-saving assistance, and further constraining the ability of humanitarian organizations to operate.”

Hamas rejected the accusations. In a statement, the group’s media office said the personnel involved had been carrying out a law enforcement operation after receiving reports of smuggled cigarettes and mobile-phone components concealed inside aid parcels, and dismissed what it called “the language of incitement” and a “manufactured narrative.”

For months, Israeli officials and international observers have warned that Hamas routinely hijacks aid shipments, diverting food and fuel from civilian channels to sustain its military infrastructure and using force to maintain a monopoly over distribution inside the enclave. Supporters of Israel say the UN’s account bolsters those warnings, arguing that the main obstacle to feeding Gaza’s population is not the entry of goods into the territory but the interference of its ruling militants once supplies cross the border.

The statement drew attention as much for what it left out as for what it said. Critics noted that Alakbarov declined to name Hamas or describe its members as terrorists, and that even while condemning the group he also faulted Israel, pointing to the “expansion of areas under Israeli control” as further reducing the space available to civilians.

Israel now controls close to 70 percent of Gaza, up from roughly half when a US-brokered ceasefire took effect in October, according to assessments by Israeli leaders and outside analysts. The incident comes amid that fragile truce, which has curbed but not ended hostilities. Israel says its continued presence is necessary to keep Hamas from rebuilding its military capabilities and mounting another assault like the one on Oct. 7, 2023; Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has cast the strategy as central to dismantling the group.

Israel has also long rejected accusations that it deliberately withholds aid to starve Gaza’s population or force their departure, saying substantial quantities of relief enter the territory daily. UN and Palestinian sources dispute the scale, reporting that only a fraction of the aid volumes envisioned under the ceasefire has reached the enclave.

The condemnation lands against a long and fraught history between Israel and the world body. Israeli leaders and independent watchdogs have long accused UN institutions of systemic bias against the Jewish state, pointing to a General Assembly that each year passes more resolutions targeting Israel than the rest of the world’s countries combined, often while giving lighter treatment to autocracies such as Iran, Syria, and North Korea.

Weeks after the Oct. 7 attacks, the General Assembly adopted a resolution calling for a ceasefire but did not pass a measure condemning the Hamas atrocities. In June 2024, the UN added Israel to its annual “list of shame” of parties that harm children in armed conflict — by Israel’s account, the only democracy named. The world body has also faced scrutiny over Israeli allegations that Hamas deeply infiltrated the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), including claims that some staff took part in the Oct. 7 massacre.

Alakbarov closed by urging all parties to protect relief operations. “I call for an immediate end to all interference with humanitarian operations,” he said. For Israel’s supporters, the statement marked a rare acknowledgment from the UN of what they have long described as Hamas’s predatory conduct — even if, they add, it arrived heavily qualified.