Israel cuts off humanitarian aid to Gaza

Coinciding with the diversion of attention away from Gaza in the wake of Israel’s invasion of Lebanon and renewed fears of a wider regional conflict, the volumes of basic supplies entering the Gaza Strip since September have plummeted. This drastic drop, amid the humanitarian catastrophe in the enclave and another military siege in the north, is the result of new Israeli obstacles and the chaos caused by its offensive. And now the situation could get even worse with the passage last Monday of a law in the Israeli parliament (Knesset) banning the activities of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA).

Israel’s increased restrictions on the delivery of essential goods, both from humanitarian agencies and the private sector, come as winter approaches and the threat of famine looms over Gaza. The latest report from the main international body on food security warned in October that acute malnutrition will worsen in the Gaza Strip in the coming months, partly due to reduced aid and limited access to food. It also warned that the risk of famine will persist if the war continues and aid is restricted.

In September, the total number of humanitarian aid shipments and commercial shipments entering Gaza was the lowest since February, according to U.N. data. Moreover, if only humanitarian shipments are counted, deliveries in September were by far the lowest since the start of Israel’s military offensive in the Gaza Strip, with the exception of October 2023, and remained almost 70% below the peak recorded in April. Israel’s data show a significantly higher flow, but reflect similar trends.

The situation worsened further in October. According to U.N. data, no private commercial cargo had entered Gaza until the 27th of that month, the latest for which figures are available, while Israeli authorities put the figure at 104. In the previous five months, by contrast, Israel had allowed in at least 1,200 privately chartered trucks each month. During the same period in October, only 836 humanitarian trucks entered Gaza, according to U.N. data, more than 40% fewer than in September.

The drop in aid to Gaza is due mainly to two factors, according to Tamara Alrifai, a spokeswoman for UNRWA. First, Israel’s closure of border crossings — most of the time, only two crossings are open —, and second, its continued restrictions on aid shipments, including “lengthy and cumbersome checks.” One of the latest obstacles is a new customs clearance process introduced in September for shipments from Jordan.

“Until now, aid entering through the Jordanian corridor did not require customs clearance, as it was regulated by another mechanism between the U.N. and Israel,” says Alrifai. “Adding a customs regulation is the prerogative of any country, but it adds an unnecessary layer of bureaucracy and time to the practice,” she adds. In August, 346 U.N. and NGO trucks arrived in Gaza via this route, according to U.N. data. But the number fell to 31 in the first half of September and to zero in the second half. In October, 130 were counted.

As for the private sector, Jonathan Whittall, acting head of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Palestine, says deliveries “have been drastically reduced by increased screening, the Israeli authorities’ desire to see them reduced, and border crossing closures during a holiday period.”

Fifteen international NGOs reported in September that aid into Gaza is also systematically hampered by the lack of security guarantees, restrictions on the movement of aid within the Strip, the extensive destruction of infrastructure, and the displacement of civilians. “A recent development is that it is becoming increasingly difficult to find truck drivers willing to pick up humanitarian goods, as they fear looting and the violence that now surrounds any movement of goods,” explains Alrifai.

Without alternative routes

Whittall says OCHA has asked for alternative routes to be opened for transporting goods, in order to avoid the current breakdown in public order around the main border crossing in southern Gaza, and at the same time removing the need to travel along a single road full of looters. But “the Israeli authorities have been refusing them for months,” he laments.

The supplies that are reaching Gaza are far below what is required to alleviate or reverse its serious humanitarian crisis. Before the Israeli offensive, some 500 trucks were entering every day, most of them from the private sector. But in the last year Israel has not allowed this average to be reached again, even though the needs of the population are now even greater.

“These 500 were arriving before there were two million displaced people, around 80% of infrastructure destroyed, [current levels of] food insecurity, collapsed health systems, lack of water, sanitation and shelter,” Whittall says. “And a lot of the things [needed] to save lives can’t be loaded onto the back of a truck — medical personnel, emergency response personnel, all that kind of stuff.”

Israel’s ban on UNRWA operations threatens to further hamper aid distribution. The law passed by the Knesset could collapse the U.N. agency’s activities in the occupied Palestinian territories, and although Israel insists it will work with other entities, there is currently no replacement with a similar infrastructure.

Restrictions on aid to Gaza are in the spotlight because Israel is bound by international law to ensure Gazans receive essential supplies. In May, prosecutors at the International Criminal Court (ICC) asked the court to issue an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in part on suspicion that Israel uses “the starvation of civilians as a method of warfare.”

But the Israeli government denies this. “Israel does not restrict the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza,” said a spokesman for the Israeli Ministry of Defense body that manages the day-to-day operations of the occupation in the Palestinian territories, COGAT. “Due to the dynamic situation of the fighting, adjustments are made from time to time to the entry agreements to facilitate the entry of aid and prevent its use by terrorist organizations,” he explained.

The reality on the ground, however, is different. “If the siege is not lifted and border crossings are not fully functional, essential aid will not be able to reach those in need,” says Ahmad Baroudi of Save the Children. Ahmed Bayram of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) agrees: “It’s been the same story for a year. We are talking about so much effort, so much discussion, so much diplomacy and so much pressure, for what is probably the most basic of human rights: to be safe and to eat.”

Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAÍS USA Edition