Data shows that the number of aid trucks entering Gaza dropped significantly in February, even as humanitarian leaders warned of famine and demanded that Israel and others increase aid to civilians trapped in the enclave.
The deaths of dozens of people amid an avalanche of food aid on Thursday underscored the level of desperation in the territory.
An average of 96 trucks a day entered Gaza through Feb. 27, a 30 percent drop from the January average and the lowest monthly average since before the ceasefire in late November, according to data from UNRWA, the U.N. aid agency for Gaza.
“It’s been stop-and-go,” said UNRWA spokesperson Juliette Touma. “It has been far from regular and far from enough. “We should have seen an increase, but there has been a significant decrease.”
Aid trucks carry food, medicine and other necessities, and while a reduction in numbers suggests a reduction in total volume, the measure is not exact. A relatively small amount of aid has also been flown to the people of Gaza.
The decline reflects, in part, strict inspection measures at the Kerem Shalom crossing in southern Israel, which has acted as the main entry gate since it reopened in December. Goods also pass into Gaza from Egypt through a crossing in the city of Rafah after undergoing Israeli inspection at a separate site.
U.N. World Food Program chief economist Arif Husain said other factors also hampered deliveries, including insecurity in Gaza and the fact that there are currently only two border points through which aid is allowed to pass. .
Israeli checks on goods entering Gaza are aimed at eliminating items that could potentially be used by Hamas. Aid officials said in interviews that, while necessary, the inspection system caused significant delays that resulted in less aid overall. Before the war, around 500 trucks of aid entered Gaza every day.
Additionally, Israeli protesters demanding the release of the approximately 100 hostages believed to still be alive in Gaza have impeded the flow of aid into Kerem Shalom.
The US special envoy for humanitarian aid, David Satterfield, said last month that Israeli military attacks on Palestinian police officers made it almost impossible to distribute aid once it entered Gaza because security forces normally protect aid from populations. desperate
“Very little help has been arriving,” said Alaa Fayad, a veterinarian who has been displaced to the central city of Deir al Balah. He said the absence of Palestinian security forces had allowed gangs to steal some of the food arriving.
Jan Egeland, a former UN humanitarian coordinator who heads the Norwegian Refugee Council’s humanitarian agency, indicated that Israel could allow an increase in amount of help entering the territory.
“The system is broken and Israel could fix it for the sake of the innocent,” he said in a statement Wednesday. post on social network after a visit to the border area.
The Israeli agency that oversees policy for the Palestinian territories, known as COGAT, pointed the finger at those distributing aid. As an example, the agency said there were more than 200 trucks waiting to be picked up at Kerem Shalom and that Israel has not placed a limit on the amount of aid that can come in.
The decline in aid suggests that calls from the United States and other governments for a rapid increase in aid to civilians have not immediately borne fruit. It could also have broader repercussions. In a provisional ruling in January, the world’s highest court, the International Court of Justice, ordered Israel to allow humanitarian assistance and basic services in Gaza.
Some aid officials said they hoped a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas would lead to an increase in aid. Some 300 aid trucks (a high since October 7) entered Gaza during one day of the week-long ceasefire in late November.
Gaza relied on aid deliveries even before the war, when two-thirds of its population received food assistance. Today, almost the entire population of 2.2 million people needs food aid.
“The risk of famine is fueled by the inability to bring critical food supplies to Gaza in sufficient quantities and the almost impossible operating conditions faced by our staff on the ground,” said Carl Skau, deputy executive director of the World Food Programme. a United Nations agency told the Security Council this week.
Gaya Gupta, Adam Sella and Nader Ibrahim contributed reports.