Greg Bouwer
IINZ
Former New Zealand Prime Minister and senior UN leader, Helen Clark, has accused Israel of “deliberately obstructing humanitarian aid to Gaza” after visiting the Rafah border crossing last week. The allegation is serious. The evidence she offered is not.
Rafah is not an Israeli crossing. It is controlled entirely by Egypt – and has been for decades. Standing on the Egyptian side and blaming Israel for what she saw there is like standing in Auckland’s port and blaming Wellington for the shipping delays. It makes for a tidy headline, but not for an honest account.
The Facts on the Ground
Clark’s claim ignores the way humanitarian aid actually enters Gaza. Israel’s aid entry points are Kerem Shalom and Zikim, where daily convoys of food, water, fuel, medical supplies, and shelter materials are processed.
According to official data, just yesterday 300 trucks entered Gaza from Israel. The bottleneck is not at the Israeli side – it is at the Egyptian side and inside Gaza itself.
The trucks Clark saw waiting in Al Arish, Egypt, were not being blocked by Israel. They were awaiting Egyptian inspection and coordination before even being authorised to approach an Israeli crossing. This is standard procedure for Egyptian-controlled territory and entirely outside Israel’s jurisdiction.
Moreover, Israel reports that:
- Medical supplies and medicines are continuously coordinated with aid agencies, including the WHO, through daily meetings. There are no recorded cases of medical supply trucks being denied entry.
- Medical evacuations from Gaza have been taking place continuously since June 2024 via Kerem Shalom.
- Israel imposes no quantitative limit on humanitarian trucks, provided they pass security inspection and can be collected and distributed by aid organisations in Gaza.
What Clark Didn’t Mention
Egypt has kept Rafah largely closed for months, citing security concerns and disputes with Hamas over control of aid distribution. This is a fact Clark either ignored or chose not to highlight.
Hamas itself has repeatedly seized and diverted aid for its fighters, inflated prices for civilians, and used aid convoys as cover for smuggling weapons and operatives. These are not unverified rumours: they are documented by the UN, aid agencies, and journalists on the ground.
When aid is not reaching civilians, the first questions should be:
- Who controls the territory it must cross?
- Who ensures it reaches intended recipients?
In southern Gaza, both those answers point to Egypt and Hamas – not Israel.
Clark’s UN Background Matters
Clark is no stranger to the UN system’s approach to Israel. As administrator of the UN Development Programme from 2009 to 2017, she operated within – and at times defended – an institutional culture that routinely singles out Israel for disproportionate criticism while downplaying or ignoring the abuses of terrorist groups like Hamas.
During her tenure, UNRWA – the UN agency for Palestinian refugees – was repeatedly exposed for employing Hamas operatives, allowing its facilities to be used for storing weapons, and promoting antisemitic content in its schools. Clark’s public record shows no significant challenge to these abuses then, and her comments today continue that same pattern: condemning Israel while remaining silent on Hamas’s conduct and Egypt’s role in blocking aid.
Why Accuracy Matters
When a former prime minister speaks, her words carry weight. Misplaced blame not only damages Israel’s international reputation, it distracts from the real obstacles to getting aid to those in need. It also emboldens Hamas, whose propaganda strategy relies on high-profile figures in the West repeating their talking points uncritically.
The ongoing suffering in Gaza is real. But so too is the deliberate strategy by Hamas to prolong that suffering, maximise civilian casualties, and manipulate global opinion. This war could end tomorrow if Hamas surrendered, released all hostages, and ceased its attacks. That is the root cause of the humanitarian crisis.
Helen Clark’s comments from Rafah may fit a pre-set narrative, but they do not fit the facts. Gaza’s civilians deserve truth, not political theatre.
This article was originally published by the Israel Institute of New Zealand.
