UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food Michael Fakhri says the UN is ready to send its convoys, but that Israel is still denying aid following its 80-day blockade of Gaza.

Fakhri described the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a shadowy organization which Israel has authorized to distribute food, as “bait to corral people” which “violates every principle of international law”.

“This is aid being used … to push people out from the north into militarized zones … and it’s about humiliating people, and it’s about controlling the population. This has nothing to do with stopping starvation.”

An Israeli ban has prevented the UN’s refugee agency from delivering aid to the displaced and hungry people fleeing relentless strikes.

Fakhri emphasized that Israel’s plan, announced in early April, was criticized by every major humanitarian organization and the secretary-general of the UN.