JERUSALEM — A senior UN official today accused Hamas of interfering with humanitarian deliveries in Gaza and intimidating aid workers, warning that the group’s actions were making relief operations increasingly dangerous.

Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas continues to control parts of Gaza, even after Israeli forces expanded their presence across the majority of the territory.

In a statement, UN Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Ramiz Alakbarov, said he “strongly” condemned the obstruction of humanitarian operations by Gaza’s de facto authorities, referring to Hamas.

Hamas’s actions “endangered humanitarian personnel, intimidated workers delivering life-saving food assistance and disrupted life-saving humanitarian operations”, he said.

Armed men linked to Hamas allegedly forced their way into a food distribution point in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip on Saturday, the UN statement said.

Militants “also entered a WFP (World Food Programme) warehouse and reportedly assaulted two truck drivers who were delivering humanitarian supplies”, it added.

Alakbarov said “these incidents are not isolated” and “reflect an increasingly dangerous pattern of intimidation, violence and obstruction, including smuggling attempts, targeting and abusing humanitarian operations”.

He warned that such actions were hampering the delivery of life-saving assistance at a time when civilians across Gaza faced severe hardships.

An official from the Hamas-run interior ministry in Gaza rejected the accusations, calling them unfounded.

“These are baseless accusations. The police and security forces continue to protect aid trucks and distribution centres and facilitate the work of international and humanitarian organisations,” he told AFP.