A senior UNRWA official has described the difficulties of getting humanitarian supplies into Gaza for the agency, with about 5,000 agency-owned trucks currently blocked from entering the besieged enclave.

John Whyte, UNRWA’s senior deputy director for Gaza operations, told The Journal that Israel is requiring the UN agency to hand over supplies to other relief organisations and remove its branding before permitting entry.

Israel’s parliament banned UNRWA last year, with the law taking effect in January.

“They just won’t let anything that’s owned by UNRWA go in,” Whyte said. “So they’re requiring us to hand our supplies over to other agencies, who then bring them in. But we also have to take the UNRWA logo off everything, which causes us a lot of hassle.”