Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said on Monday that aid intended for the Gaza Strip “is expiring in warehouses due to Israel preventing its entry,” while reports revealed that more than 900 wheelchairs intended for injured children in Gaza remain stuck in warehouses in Jordan due to Israeli restrictions on the entry of aid.
Safadi said, during his participation in a seminar on humanitarian diplomacy to uphold international humanitarian law in New York City, that more than two million Palestinians in Gaza are “besieged in oppression, deprivation and suffering” because the international community is not using the tools provided by international law against violators of international humanitarian law.
He stressed that the residents of the Gaza Strip are deprived of food and medicine “not because of a lack of aid, but because Israel prevents it from entering,” adding that this aid “expires in warehouses because Israel prevents it from entering.”
Safadi stressed that Jordan was a starting point for international aid destined for Gaza before Israel prevented its entry, calling on the international community to activate the tools of international law and hold its violators accountable, and warning of the danger of violations of international humanitarian law becoming commonplace.
Safadi's remarks come as shipments of aid and medical equipment intended for Gaza's children face obstacles in reaching the Strip.
According to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), more than 900 wheelchairs donated by two Australian charities to help injured children in Gaza are stuck in warehouses run by the Jordanian Hashemite Charity Organization.
Two shipments from the Australian organization “Kids on Wheels Alliance” arrived in Jordan in February 2025, while a third shipment from the organization “Wilchers for Kids” arrived in October 2025. The wheelchairs were supposed to be delivered to children with severe injuries and acute mobility problems inside Gaza.
Dr. Abdullah Al-Balawi, a physician with the Palestinian Australian New Zealand Medical Association, said that seeing boxes of wheelchairs piled up in warehouses caused him “great pain,” stressing that they were intended for children who had lost limbs or been paralyzed as a result of the war, and that they “pose no threat.”
These chairs are designed to handle rough terrain and rubble, and can be adjusted as children grow, making them particularly suitable for injured children in Gaza.
According to the Hashemite Charity Organization submitted a request in February 2025 to include the wheelchairs in an aid convoy heading to Gaza, but the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, who is responsible for coordinating the entry of aid, said that medical equipment and medicines were not approved for inclusion in the convoy.
According to the report, the application remained classified as “pending” for 19 months, preventing a new application from being submitted.
In contrast, an Israeli government source denied that Israel had prevented the entry of the wheelchairs, while Cogat did not respond to specific questions from ABC regarding the shipment. The Israeli agency stated in a general response that it had allowed thousands of wheelchairs into Gaza “without any quantitative restrictions,” in addition to approximately 22,000 tons of medical equipment and medicines since the ceasefire began in October 2015.
The issue of wheelchairs comes within a broader context of restrictions on the entry of aid and humanitarian supplies into Gaza, as human rights organizations have previously documented the prevention of the entry of batteries for wheelchairs, X-ray equipment, and materials used in the manufacture of prosthetic limbs, on the grounds that they are related to materials with “dual use”.
Humanitarian reports also indicated that the entry of other materials needed by the residents of the sector was prevented or obstructed, including portable toilets, sleeping bags, plastic sheeting, as well as bandages, diapers, shampoo, and tent poles.
Critics of these restrictions say they broaden the range of materials that can be prevented from entering, at a time when hundreds of thousands of displaced people in Gaza need aid and basic supplies.
The case of more than 900 wheelchairs stuck in Jordan confirms that the problem is not only about the availability of aid, but also about its ability to reach the children who need it within the sector, at a time when Safadi says that the aid itself is at risk of expiring while it is still in the warehouses.
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