In the Gaza Strip, the distribution of the first humanitarian aid in over two months has begun. On Monday, aid goods entered the Palestinian territory for the first time since March 2nd. Aid organizations report that the admitted aid is far from sufficient.
The first arrived goods were still in trucks at the Kerem Shalom border crossing. The United Nations stated that they could not be picked up because the route provided by Israel was unsafe. There were also fears of looting.
The UN has now collected about ninety trucks with goods and sent them to Gaza, UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric told news agency AFP. Previously, the UN and aid organizations said that at least five to six hundred trucks per day are needed to maintain aid efforts in Gaza.
The Red Cross told NU.nl on Thursday that the aid goods that have now reached Gaza are “not sufficient.” “The aid barely reaches those who need it. The logistical operation is a nightmare,” the organization said.
According to the Red Cross, mainly flour enters the Gaza Strip. “No fresh food, no vegetables, no high-energy food for malnourished people. Flour needs to go to bakeries, but its distribution is difficult in an area where so much is broken, where it is life-threatening to do your job, and where total desperation and chaos have become the norm.”
The organization says it has warehouses full of food packages in various locations outside Gaza that can help people for a longer period. “But they are not allowed in.” The Red Cross states that the borders to Gaza “must be opened now, but actually already yesterday.”
Criticism or Israel’s plan
Israel, which has blocked the supply in recent times and still controls what goes into Gaza, announced this weekend that it would allow a “basic amount” of aid into the Palestinian territory. Soon the country wants to do the aid work in the Gaza Strip completely by itself. Aid organizations and various countries, including the Netherlands, are critical of that plan.
Experts told NU.nl on Wednesday that there is a shortage of just about everything in the Gaza Strip.