Aid agencies have said the humanitarian situation in Gaza remains dire despite the recent US-brokered ceasefire.
Although there is a provision in the deal for an increase in the amount of aid entering the strip, supplies are “way below what is needed”, UN Palestinian refugee agency Gaza director Sam Rose told the BBC.
While relieved that crossings are reopening, he said “bureaucratic constraints” are holding up deliveries. Mr Rose said temporary shelter and education supplies are needed alongside “the real basics that people need to survive”.
“It’s not just the type of items but also the organisations that are permitted to bring those supplies in,” he added. “International NGOs [non-governmental agencies] – including many British NGOs – are not currently permitted to bring those supplies in,” said Mr Rose.
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Gaza’s Hamas-run media office announced Tuesday that only 986 aid trucks have entered Gaza since the ceasefire took effect on October 10th. If the agreed number of 600 trucks a day had been adhered to, a total of 6,600 trucks would have reached the Strip by Monday evening.
World Food Programme (WFP) spokeswoman Abeer Etfa urged Israel to open more border crossings. Only two – Kerem Shalom in the south and Kissufim in the middle – are operational. Deliveries face lengthy inspections, which create bottlenecks.
“We haven’t had large-scale convoys into Gaza City or to the north of Gaza,” she said.
While aid agencies provide oil, rice, lentils, flour, sugar, tea and canned goods, Israel allows limited commercial and agency imports of fresh fruit, vegetables, meat and chicken into Gaza, but many families cannot afford them. A lack of cooking gas prevents the preparation of meals or compels households to use unsafe materials to heat food.
The WFP has announced the expansion of its network from five to 26 distribution hubs in central and southern Gaza and plans to reactivate 145 points when “conditions permit”. It operates nine bakeries to provide fresh bread and has initiated a digital voucher programme for 50,000 of the most vulnerable people, with plans to increase this to 200,000.
Healthcare remains a pressing concern in Gaza. In an appeal to world leaders to facilitate urgent medical evacuations for 15,600 people, Médecins Sans Frontiers (MSF) said: “People with life-threatening conditions in Gaza, Palestine, face the same impossibility to receive life-saving medical care today as they did before the fragile ceasefire. The health system lies in ruins after two years of Israeli bombardment and deprivation.”
MSF said the ceasefire does not facilitate the delivery of medicine, medical equipment, food, fuel and adequate shelter for Gaza’s population of more than two million people, many of whom are homeless as winter approaches.
According to the World Health Organisation more than 500 Gazans have died of starvation this year. – Additional reporting: Reuters
