Palestinians displaced for 10th time in Gaza fail to access scant aid
Palestinians are seen moving south along al-Rashid Street on foot, in vehicles, and on donkey carts amid intensified Israeli attacks on northern Gaza on May 22
Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Gaza City, said Israeli forces have allowed 87 trucks containing aid to enter the Strip in the last 24 hours, most containing flour for bread.
But he said that before the war, Gaza needed some 500 trucks to enter on a daily basis with water, food, medical supplies, and other essentials, but now, the humanitarian needs are far greater, as much of the population is on the brink of famine.
“Allowing this small amount of aid, just a few trucks daily, into a disaster zone like Gaza is not humanitarian relief, it’s performative,” Mahmoud said.
“We’re not seeing any of this coming to [heavily populated] parts of the Gaza Strip – including Gaza City or the northern part of the Strip that is now experiencing mass waves of evacuation orders.”
Mahmoud said Israel’s latest forced evacuation orders include large parts of Beit Hanoon, Beit Lahiya and Jabalia in northern Gaza, and that people are often fleeing these areas under heavy artillery fire.
“We’ve talked to people in the past couple of days who have been on the move for 10th time now, constantly displaced with evacuation orders herding them from one place to another,” he said. “The moment they arrive to an area, they set up their makeshift tents and within a short period of time, they are on the move once again. People are tired, they are exhausted.”
He said that many people in Gaza City have moved to the coastal road area, especially around the seaport. “An area that used to be an attraction site has now been turned largely into a displacement camp, with lots of people sleeping on cardboard inside makeshift tents or simply sleeping on sidewalks,” he said.
Mobile home?
Lack of healthcare a huge cause of ‘silent death’ in Gaza, IFRC says
The few dozen trucks of aid that Israeli has allowed to enter Gaza in recent days is “less than a drop in the ocean” as the Strip needs some 1,000 to 1,200 trucks a day to address the “immense” needs of the population, the spokesperson for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has told Al Jazeera.
“It is just a nightmare that is continuing to worsen day after day,” Tommaso Della Longa said, speaking from Geneva in Switzerland.
“The president of the Palestinian Red Crescent today said that a couple of trucks entering is an invitation for killing. People are desperate – we need much more humanitarian aid, we need food, we need water, we need commercial items, we need medicines, formula for babies.”
He said a lack of healthcare is a huge cause of “silent death” in Gaza, as people with chronic conditions, such as cancer or kidney disease, cannot access treatments like chemotherapy and dialysis because medical facilities are closing due to Israeli attacks or a lack of medicine and equipment due to the Israeli blockade.
“This is simply unacceptable,” he said. “Thinking about this [happening] in 2025 is shocking.”
Death toll from Israeli attacks on Gaza since dawn rises to 61
At least 61 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli air attacks across the Gaza Strip since dawn today, medical sources have told Al Jazeera.
