New Gaza aid plans will increase children's suffering, Unicef says

The United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) has criticised new proposals by Israel and the United States to take over the distribution of humanitarian aid in Gaza, saying the plans would worsen the suffering of children and families.

"It appears the design of a plan presented by Israel to the humanitarian community will increase ongoing suffering of children and families in the Gaza Strip," said Unicef spokesperson James Elder on Friday.

US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, said on Friday that Israel would not be involved in handing out aid. However, Elder said that Israel's aid hubs, which plan to serve 300,000 people each, could endanger children and families as they attempt to retrieve aid and would drive further displacement.

"The use of humanitarian aid as a bait to force displacement, especially from the north to the south, will create this impossible choice: a choice between displacement and death," said Elder, who has been on several missions to Gaza since Israel's war began 19 months ago.

"It appears designed to reinforce control over life-sustaining items as a pressure tactic... There is a simple alternative: lift the blockade, let humanitarian aid in to save lives," he said.