The distribution of humanitarian aid in Gaza is close to its lowest levels just one year after the war

A year after the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) launched its offensive against Israel, in which almost 1,200 people died and another 240 were kidnapped, the bloody Israeli military response on the Gaza Strip continues to add dozens of victims daily — almost 42,000 deaths in total– and increases humanitarian needs that in recent months have been even less satisfied due to the fewer entry of convoys to the Palestinian enclave.

International organizations have denounced since the outbreak of the war that Israel’s political and military authorities have made it difficult for humanitarian aid to enter the Palestinian enclave. Added to this is also the hostile actions of extremist Israeli civilians, who have even attacked convoys loaded with aid and basic supplies on the road route to the Gaza Strip.

“The volume of aid that has entered Gaza over the last year has never come close to meeting needs, which continue to grow,” said the secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), Jan Egeland, who He has also assured that an average of 50 trucks have crossed into Gaza per day during the month of September, “the lowest level” recorded to date.

These estimates coincide with those of the spokesperson for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), James Elder, who in a recent interview with Europa Press also recognized that the month of August had been the period in which the least humanitarian aid had entered the country. enclave. Elder took the opportunity to reproach that in previous months “a lot of attention was paid” to the entry of aid into Gaza but “now no one seems to care.”

The United Nations estimates that around 500 trucks entered the Gaza Strip daily before the War, while last August only 1,559 trucks were able to cross the Kerem Shalom and Rafah border crossings – the only ones that remain operational. — despite the fact that this summer a famine alert has been declared in some areas of Gaza.

The commissioner general of the United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, has also confirmed these facts, pointing out that in August more than a million people did not receive food rations, while in the month September this figure increased to more than 1.4 million people.

“Meanwhile, more than 100,000 tons of food supplies are stranded outside Gaza due to access restrictions, insecurity, damaged roads and the collapse of public order,” added Lazzarini, who also denounces that the high levels of destruction in crop fields “forces us to depend exclusively on humanitarian aid.”

According to data from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), around 1.9 million Palestinians (90 percent of the population) are currently displaced due to the Israeli Army’s offensive. Some of these Gazan civilians have been forced to change location on several occasions following Israeli attacks, even perpetrated in areas classified as ‘safe’.

“Gazatis now face rampant hunger, the spread of disease, vast destruction, a decimated health system, water and sanitation infrastructure and a serious lack of basic necessities,” the United Nations has summarized in a recent report that evaluates the situation in the Palestinian enclave.

One of the most complicated areas is the north of the Strip, where Gaza City is located. It was the main initial theater of the Israeli offensive, although as the weeks passed the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) extended their attacks to the south. In this area “urgent needs persist”, but OCHA has not been able to access the site in the last month.

THE CONFLICT IS SPREADING, BUT GAZA IS STILL NEEDED

One year after the start of the war in the Gaza Strip, hostilities have also spread to Lebanon, where the Israeli Army is focused on dismantling the Shiite militia party Hezbollah with attacks in various parts of the country, including the capital, Beirut, and thanks to which it has eliminated a large part of the leadership of the Islamist organization.

As the attacks spread in Lebanon – where around 2,000 people have already died due to the Israeli offensive – there is a risk of “shadowing” the crisis in Gaza, as Elder warned. “There is no doubt that there is much less (media) coverage about Gaza (…) while the attacks have continued in full force,” said the UNICEF spokesperson.

For its part, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has recalled that the main humanitarian actors have placed special emphasis on health needs, water supply, sanitation and hygiene in Gaza to combat the rise in cases of diarrhea and infections.

Accommodation is another of the main challenges faced by the Palestinian population. More than fifty evacuation orders currently weigh on the Gaza Strip, affecting more than 80 percent of the enclave. The UN Satellite Center (UNOSAT) noted in its latest report a week ago that around 66 percent of Gaza’s structures have been destroyed by Israeli attacks.

In fact, Oxfam Intermón’s gender advisor in Gaza, Fidaa al Araj, has expressed in statements to Europa Press that the international community must not only press for a ceasefire to be reached, but must also demand that Israel surrender. accounts “for the reconstruction of Gaza.”

In this context, the conflict is approaching its second winter, raising the fears of humanitarian organizations. UNRWA Commissioner General has warned that “with the onset of winter and deteriorating weather conditions, the lack of adequate humanitarian supplies will only lead to more suffering.”

The arrival of the rainy season threatens to further deteriorate “the already terrible living conditions” in Gaza. Al Araj has warned that the cold, the risk of precipitation and landslides are increasing concerns that “this risk situation will worsen.”

The fear is such that it has motivated the United Nations and its partners to develop a “winterization plan”, as detailed by OCHA, to address the needs of more than two million people during the winter months.

ISRAEL PROMISED TO “FLOOD GAZA” WITH HUMANITARIAN AID

The United Nations and other organizations have repeatedly denounced that Israel is hindering the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, while the Israeli authorities have defended that they always provide aid to Gazan civilians and facilitate their entry into the enclave.

The Israeli permanent representative to the United Nations, Danny Danon, has gone so far as to assert that the humanitarian efforts carried out by his country are “incomparable” to those of the rest of the international community. Danon has estimated the aid delivered by Israel at more than one million tons and has reiterated its willingness to “work with cooperation agencies.”

Months ago, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant asserted that the country was going to “flood Gaza with humanitarian aid,” using with some sarcasm the same term that Hamas called its October 7 offensive: Al Aqsa Flood.