Thousands of aid trucks ready to enter Gaza when ceasefire starts on Sunday
There is growing hope among Palestinians about the implementation of the ceasefire deal, which is expected to take place tomorrow. Local municipal authorities have taken some practical steps ahead of the deal, such as removing rubble from central roads.
Palestinian police have also issued instructions regarding the return of displaced families to their homes located in areas that were considered to be active war zones.
People have been ordered not to approach their homes in Rafah city, specifically the eastern areas, unless they can verify what is inside the buildings. There is fear that unexploded ordnance could be left.
Humanitarian organisations are preparing to increase the capacity of aid delivery. All the organisations , including UNRWA, [the UN agency for Palestinian refugees], are working around the clock. UNRWA says they have at least 4,000 humanitarian trucks waiting to access Gaza once the deal takes effect.
Biden administration worked to suppress Gaza famine finding: Report
Biden administration officials pressured the famine-tracking organisation Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) to soften its conclusion that famine was under way in Gaza last December and demanded the group pull its report when it refused to comply.
The Washington Post newspaper reports that USAID official Sonali Korde wrote to the head of FEWS NET to “strongly” recommend the organisation change the title of its report to emphasise a “risk” of famine in Gaza.
When the report was published in late December without the change, the Biden administration ordered the report deleted from FEWS NET’s website, in what The Post reports is the first such retraction in the organisation’s 40-year history.
Citing three anonymous officials, The Post report was withdrawn over its reliance on outdated population figures for northern Gaza as there were not enough people left to experience a famine, but the Biden administration did not want to publicly criticise the report on this basis for fear it would highlight the extent of Israel’s destruction.
A copy of the retracted report obtained by The Post cited two estimates of the population in northern Gaza, one putting the figure at between 65,000 to 75,000 people, and another by the United Nations that estimated the population may be as low as 10,000 to 15,000 people.
MSF says world ‘failed’ people of Gaza, ceasefire ‘relief’ coming too late
Doctors Without Borders, known by its French initials MSF, says the ceasefire deal is a “relief” but it comes too late.
“For more than 15 months, hospital rooms have been filled with patients with severed limbs and other life-altering trauma, caused by strikes, and distressed people searching for the bodies of their family members,” the organisation said in a statement.
MSF, which said eight of its workers had been killed since the start of the war, described humanitarian needs in the besieged and bombarded territory as having reached “catastrophic levels”.
“The Israeli government, Hamas, and world leaders have tragically failed the people of Gaza, by not agreeing and imposing a sustained ceasefire sooner. The relief that this ceasefire brings is far from enough for people to rebuild their lives, reclaim their dignity and to mourn for those killed and all that’s been lost,” the statement added.
UNICEF mobilised ‘1,300 truckloads’ of aid to bring into Gaza: Spokesperson
Rosalia Bollen, a spokesperson at UNICEF, says the mobilisation of aid supplies to Gaza has “already started”.
“For UNICEF, we have 1,300 truckloads of goods that we could bring in, 700 truckloads of goods that would be set to follow immediately. We’re not alone, [other] humanitarian actors have mobilised to have these supplies ready,” Bollen told Al Jazeera from the al-Mawasi refugee camp in Gaza.
She explained that every time she enters Gaza through the Karem Abu Salem (known in Israel as the Karem Shalom) crossing, there are “lots of pallets of aid standing there”.
Many families fled Gaza City in the north to come to al-Mawasi, she said, and “they would like to [go back] to their homes.”
“We can expect a population movement that will be chaotic from the south to the north and that also requires the centre of gravity of the humanitarian operation to adjust and move along with the population,” Bollen added.
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