UNITED NATIONS, Oct 21 (APP): Israel has only allowed a small fraction of aid trucks required by the ceasefire deal to enter Gaza, Palestinian officials have said, in the latest report about Israeli officials violating the terms of the agreement and prolonging their famine campaign in the devastated Strip, according to media reports.??
The Gaza Government Media Office said, as of Monday evening, only 986 aid trucks have entered Gaza since the beginning of the ceasefire agreement. This is despite the ceasefire deal stipulating that 6,600 trucks should have entered in that amount of time.
This is only about 89 trucks per day on average, the office said, out of 600 that Israel pledged to allow to enter daily. This represents a mere 14 percent of the aid entry that parties agreed to to bring an end to Israel’s humanitarian blockade and manmade famine in Gaza.
It is even far below Israel’s threat last week to only allow 300 trucks per day into Gaza as a result of Hamas’s inability to return the remains of all of the Israeli captives who died amid the genocide, it was pointed out. Israel made that threat despite a reported understanding by Israeli officials that it would be difficult to return the bodies due to Israel’s continued blockade on heavy equipment that could be used to clear rubble.
The severely downgraded aid entry “reflects the continued policy of strangulation, starvation and humanitarian blackmail practiced by the occupation” against millions of Palestinians in Gaza, the Government Media Office said.
Aid groups have also decried the continued blockade of aid by Israel. A World Food Programme spokesperson said on Tuesday that entry is falling far short of what is needed and is not enough to stymie the spread of famine.
“Daily deliveries continue and they are now averaging around 750 tonnes,” the spokesperson, senior regional communications office Abeer Etefa, told reporters. “That’s much better than what we had before the ceasefire, but it’s still well below our target, which is around 2,000 tonnes every day.”
She emphasized that Israel must open more border crossings in order for agencies to deliver at the scale that is needed. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that Israel will keep one of the most important entry points, the Rafah crossing, closed indefinitely.
The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has said that it has three months’ worth of supplies to feed and care for all 2.2 million Palestinians in Gaza. But it has continued to be blocked by Israel, which has only allowed in a “trickle” of aid so far.
The continued blocking of aid supplies comes as Israel has already committed at least 80 violations of the ceasefire so far, according to the Gaza Government Media Office. This includes killing at least 97 Palestinians and injuring over 230 so far.
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“We’ve cleared the roads at scale into the north,” she added, removing the debris from the border crossing points to be able to connect to Gaza City where the situation is particularly dire.
“But we need these crossings to open so that we’re able to get large-scale convoys.”
The agency has started restoring its food distribution system, with a goal of scaling assistance through 145 distribution points across the Strip. Some 26 distribution points have already been reinstated.
“The response has been really overwhelming,” Ms. Etefa said, describing people’s reactions to the food distributions. “People are showing up in large numbers, grateful for the efficiency of the delivery of food assistance” as well as the “dignified way” in which they are able to stand in line and quickly obtain their food rations.
People are hopeful but there is “cautious optimism” as to how long the current conditions will prevail, Ms. Etefa said. Those receiving food aid tend to eat only part of the rations and keep the rest in case of emergency “because they are not very confident how long the ceasefire will last and what will happen next.”
“It is a fragile peace,” Ms. Etefa stressed.
Adding to the challenges, food prices in Gaza remain prohibitive and supplies are still not sufficient “to the level that it can be affordable,” Ms. Etefa said. “There’s still a huge problem of access… people can find food in the market, but it’s out of reach because it’s extremely expensive,” she warned.
WFP is supporting the most food insecure people with digital payments which have so far allowed some 140,000 people to buy food on local markets, the goal being to double the programme in the coming weeks.
The WFP spokesperson reiterated the agency’s calls for commercial supplies to enter the enclave and supplement aid. “Humanitarian aid will not be the only solution for dealing with severe malnutrition and having a complete food basket,” she explained.
Only a full implementation of the ceasefire can enable WFP to operate at the scale required for this crisis, Ms. Etefa stressed. “Sustaining the ceasefire is vital.”
“It’s really… the only way we can save lives and push back on the famine in the north of Gaza,” she concluded.
Meanwhile, the risk posed by unexploded ordinance is incredibly high, the head of the UN Mine Action Service team in Gaza said on Tuesday.
Luke Irving told a press conference in New York at UN Headquarters via video-link that five children were reportedly injured last week in the enclave, two very seriously.
There have been at least 328 victims of explosive munitions left behind from the Israeli bombardment and war with Hamas, some of them fatalities. The senior UNMAS official said the real figure is likely to be much higher due to underreporting.
“We expect to find many more items in the coming weeks as we access more areas under the ceasefire,” he said.
“We’re deeply concerned about the heightened risk these items pose in the coming days, weeks, months and years, as people to try to salvage what is left of their homes and belongings, children play in conflict affected places and humanitarian personnel circulate to areas that were previously inaccessible.”
APP/