‘No aid getting into Gaza’
On Friday, the UN-backed Famine Review Committee (FRC) issued a rare alert revealing that the number of aid shipments being let into Gaza is now lower than at any time since Israel’s war on the enclave began last year.
According to United Nations reports, 80 percent of Gaza’s population now relies on humanitarian aid for their daily needs.
Um Mohammed, who lives in a makeshift tent in Deir el-Balah, says her family is struggling to survive. She and her family were forcibly displaced from Jabalia in northern Gaza when the war began over a year ago.
“I mainly depend on the aid centre to feed my children, but now there is no aid getting into Gaza,” the mother of six told Al Jazeera. “I tend to use canned food and grains to prepare a meal for my family. The last time I ate meat was two months ago.”
In September, the UN said Israel blocked the entry of 83 percent of food aid into the Gaza Strip since the war began.
“We used to have from 700 to 800 aid trucks per day in September 2023,” Amjad Al Shawa, director of the Palestinian NGOs Network, told Al Jazeera. “We now have such a severe humanitarian crisis… we have from 30 to 40 trucks a day maximum.”
Israeli military still obstructing aid delivery to Gaza: NRC
Israel is obstructing the delivery of aid to Gaza in several ways in violation to its obligations under international law, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) said.
“First and foremost, they are obstructing aid from entering through the crossings,” Shaina Low, NRC’s communications adviser, told Al Jazeera. “Aid is arbitrarily rejected and essential supplies are not allowed in, including timber to help people build shelters as they face winter.
“Sometimes the requests to access those crossings are denied for over a month.”
Once the aid enters Gaza, aid workers must request safe routes through which they can safely distribute the aid.
“Israel often denies requests to move from place to place in order to reach Palestinian families that are in desperate need,” Low said.
Israeli rights group says Israel failed to heed US Gaza aid requirements
Gisha – the Legal Center for Freedom of Movement says Israel has not met the requirements specified in a letter by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and, instead, there has been a “dramatic decrease” in the quantity of goods Israel has allowed into Gaza.
“The situation is particularly serious in the north of the Strip. Israel has implemented a plan to tighten the siege on the area, starving the population there and forcibly displacing them,” Gisha said in a statement.
“Even if Israel were to adhere to the US demands, this alone would not reverse the catastrophe in Gaza,” the group said.
