David Satterfield, the United States special envoy for humanitarian issues in the Middle East, said on Friday that earlier this month, Israeli forces killed members of the Palestinian police who were guarding a United Nations aid convoy in the besieged city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.

Satterfield, the senior American diplomat involved in providing humanitarian aid to Gaza, added that the Palestinian police, as a result, refuse to protect the convoys, which hinders the delivery of aid inside Gaza due to threats that he described as from “criminal gangs.”

He went on to say, at an event hosted by the Washington-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, “With the departure of the police guard, it has become virtually impossible for the United Nations or any other party, whether Jordan, the Emirates, or any other implementing party, to safely transport aid to Gaza because of the groups.” (..).

Satterfield said that the guard force included members of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) as well as individuals who had no direct connection to the armed group.

The Israeli army has not yet commented on Satterfield's statements.

Most of Gaza's 2.3 million residents were displaced due to the Israeli war on Gaza.

Israeli bombing and fighting destroyed vast areas of the Strip and caused a humanitarian catastrophe that raised fears among relief groups of famine. The United Nations says Israeli forces are obstructing aid.

Satterfield was asked about the veracity of a report that Israeli forces killed “Hamas individuals” protecting a UN aid convoy in Rafah earlier this month.

The American envoy replied, “Ten days or two weeks ago, the Israeli army targeted seven, eight, or nine police officers, including a commander whose units were involved in providing security.”

Satterfield said that such guarding was necessary because of attacks on aid convoys, first by “desperate” Palestinians and also by “criminal groups.”

He added that the police “certainly include members of Hamas.” It also includes individuals who have no direct association with Hamas and are there as part of the remnants of the security presence of the Western-backed Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited rule in the occupied West Bank.

On February 10, Hamas and Gaza medics said that two waves of Israeli air strikes killed five members of the Hamas-run police force in Rafah, including a senior officer. On the same day, the Israeli army said it killed three Hamas militants in Rafah, including two senior members in the area.

It was not clear if Satterfield was referring to the incident that occurred on February 10. Hamas did not say that it had stopped police escorting aid convoys.

Satterfield said that the United States is working with the Israeli army and government to present “solutions that can be found because everyone wants the aid to continue.”

Satterfield stated that in addition to the threat posed by groups (..), the distribution of aid is being hampered by the “increasing value of humanitarian aid” leaking onto the black market.

He denied allegations that Hamas is stealing aid and commercial shipments to Gaza, saying that no official from Israel or the Biden administration has provided “specific evidence of the diversion or theft of aid.”

But he continued, Hamas uses other channels to deliver aid “to determine where and to whom the aid goes.”