The United Nations has ruled out involvement with a new US-backed foundation for aid to Gaza, as Israel’s months-long blockade brings severe shortages to the territory, AFP reports.

“I made it clear that we participate in aid operations if they are in accordance with our basic principles,” said UN spokesperson Farhan Haq.

“As we’ve stated repeatedly, this particular distribution plan does not accord with our basic principles, including those of impartiality, neutrality, independence, and we will not be participating in this.”

Haq said: “The UN have a plan, an excellent plan, that is ready to be implemented as soon as we’re allowed to do our work.”

“I’ve talked about how we have trucks ready to go. We have more than 171,000 metric tonnes of food, on top of other life-saving supplies, and they’re ready to go the minute that Israel opens the gates,” he added.