A Catholic Relief Services (CRS) official reported this week that the Catholic charity has not been able to bring humanitarian supplies to the southern Gaza Strip since early May and that it no longer has supplies in warehouses in the area.
“Most aid crosses through Rafah, and the Rafah crossing has been closed since early May due to military operations there,” spokesperson Megan Gilbert told CNA, EWTN News’ English-language agency, in an email.
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“We have not had CRS supplies entering the southern half of Gaza since May 6. Neither to Rafah nor to Kerem Shalom” he explained.
“We have been taking trucks (more than 50 so far) to the northern half of Gaza since Erez West opened. “Those trucks contained ready-to-eat foods, hygiene kits, bedding kits, and emergency shelter items,” she added.
CRS has served more than 750,000 people in the region since the outbreak of the war between Israel and Hamas on October 7, 2023, according to a Press release April of the organization.
The Catholic aid group launched operational centers in Rafah, as well as in Deir al-Balah, a city in the central Gaza Strip, through which they provide shelter and hygiene supplies, as well as cash and food parcels.
CRS has 83 employees in Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza, including 44 in Gaza, according to a May 15 report shared with CNA. CRS staff members have left the evacuation area since Israel’s Rafah evacuation instruction on May 11.
The humanitarian aid organization continues to operate in Deir al-Balah, but has paused operations in Rafah and northern Gaza. Limited access to supplies and fuel, as well as border closures, have restricted their humanitarian efforts, the report said.
After Israel seized the Rafah crossing from Hamas on May 7, Egypt refused to move aid through the crossing unless it was under Palestinian control, according to the Times of Israel.
Israel, Egypt and the United States They have agreed since then sending aid through the Kerem Shalom crossing, where the borders of Israel, Egypt and the Gaza Strip meet.
Israel moved into Rafah earlier this month to attack Hamas, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said before the military operation.
“We will enter Rafah because we have no other option. “We will destroy the Hamas battalions there, we will complete all the objectives of the war, including the return of all our hostages,” he maintained.
Although aid has been coming to the region from around the world, according to a local report in Gaza and a Israeli defense officialthe terrorist group Hamas is reported to be stealing supplies and controlling its distribution.
The United States recently attempted to deliver more than a million pounds of aid to Gaza through a floating dock of 320 million dollars that began operating two weeks ago and is now in need of repairs after damage caused by bad weather.
CRS chief Sean Callahan visited the Holy Land earlier this year and found that amid the violence his “teams were still able to register people to deliver supplies.”
A representative of the organization told CNA in April that the group is “working hard to keep our team as safe as possible” and remains “committed to doing everything we can to address the significant humanitarian needs of civilians in Gaza.”
Translated and adapted by the ACI Prensa team. Originally published in CNA.
Kate Quinones
Kate Quiñones is a staff writer for Catholic News Agency and a member of College Fix. She has publications in the Wall Street Journal, the Denver Catholic Register and CatholicVote. She graduated from Hillsdale College. She lives in Colorado with her husband.