GAZA: Supplies of food to Gaza have declined sharply over recent weeks as Israeli authorities have imposed a new customs rule on some humanitarian aid and separately scaled down deliveries organized by businesses, people involved in getting goods to the war-torn territory told reporters.

According to seven people familiar with the matter, the new customs rule will cover truck convoys chartered by the United Nations that were initially going to take aid from Jordan to Gaza through Israel.

The people said it would ask the relief organization officials on board sending the shipment to fill out a form with passport details and then accept liability for any false information on a shipment.

Relief agencies have protested the new requirement, which was made public mid-August, claiming that signing the form could put their staff at the risk of taking the fall for breaking the law if aid was supplied to Hamas or other Israel foes.

No shipment has gone through the Jordan route for the past two weeks, a key channel in Gaza supplies. However, sources said the dispute did not affect shipments through Cyprus and Egypt.

In a parallel move, the Israelis have cut off commercial food shipments to Gaza, even as there are concerns over the benefit going towards the Hamas group allegedly due to that trade, people close to the issue say. Industry sources and data from the UN and the Israeli government report that September food and aid deliveries will be at their lowest in seven months.

Israel’s military humanitarian unit, Cogat, which oversees the aid and commercial shipments into Gaza, said that no convoy chartered by the UN was seen leaving Jordan for Gaza since September 19. However, a spokesperson claimed that there is no blockade from Israel.

The spokesperson referred questions on the form dispute to Israel’s Ministry of Economy. A ministry spokesperson still needs to answer Reuters’ questions. A spokesman for the UN’s emergency response arm, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), declined comment. Cogat did not address specific questions about commercial shipments.

The twin restrictions, first reported by Reuters, have sparked fears among aid workers that pervasive food insecurity will worsen for the 2.3 million Gazans trapped in the occupied Palestinian territory. “Lack of food is some of the worst it’s been during the war, especially these past weeks,” Nour Al-Amassi, a doctor who works in southern Gaza, told Reuters by phone.

Food insecurity has been one of the most contentious issues of the war that began after Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel last year. In May, prosecutors at the International Criminal Court requested the court to issue an arrest warrant against Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, saying they suspected Israeli authorities had used “the starvation of civilians as a method of warfare.”

Israeli authorities dismissed that, saying they ensure the delivery of foodstuffs to Gaza even under difficult circumstances. In September, they submitted two formal objections to the ICC, arguing about the legality of the prosecutor’s request and disputing the court’s jurisdiction.

According to UN and Israeli officials, aid has been brought into Gaza by several different routes that have come in and out of operation during the war. Before the war, the primary route was via southern Gaza, but only after a detour for scans by Israeli officials.

Since Israel launched a military assault on the town of Rafah in May, UN aid coming that way has slumped because insecurity made it increasingly difficult to organize, UN relief agencies have said.

Israel opened the Jordan route in December, where trucks can move directly from the Hashemite Kingdom to Gaza. UN and NGO aid workers say the Jordan corridor had been the most reliable until this recent suspension.

The transportation of relief via the route improved when Israeli authorities agreed with Jordan to simplify customs procedures for humanitarian aid transported by UN agencies.

However, according to people close to the matter, in mid-August, Cogat told UN relief agencies that it had withdrawn the fast track. That creates costs and delays. The sources said the new customs form is another headache, and the UN side had proposed an alternative and hoped Israel would accept it.

Israeli authorities have actively encouraged commercial supply since May, telling the UN in June it was an “efficiency solution”. They changed their tack; however, upon discovering that Hamas was able to collect taxes from some of the shipments and take some of the food,