Within hours of Israel’s threat, the United Nations said it would suspend aid deliveries to an estimated 100,000 civilians in south Lebanon. Aid agencies rejected Israel’s assurances that deliveries would be granted safe passage. Christopher Stokes, the head of the Doctors Without Borders mission in Lebanon said: “For many days, the concept of humanitarian corridors has been used to mask the reality. It is impossible to get safe access to the villages in the south. We do not have real access to the people most in need.”