Aid to Gaza falls to its lowest level since the start of the war despite US warnings to Israel

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Aid to Gaza has dropped to its lowest level in any month since the war began, despite the US warning Israel that military assistance could be at risk if conditions do not improve.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on October 13 wrote a letter to the Israeli government giving Israel 30 days to “strengthen all forms of humanitarian support” in this strip of land and “end its isolation”. in the North”. Gaza” right away.

However, humanitarian officials say the situation has worsened since the leaked letter was sent two weeks ago.

According to the United Nations, only 704 humanitarian aid trucks entered the strip between October 1 and 22, a sharp drop from the rate last month; 3,000 trucks entered the strip in September.

The aid amounted to only a fraction of the amount requested by the United States, which said in a warning letter that a minimum of 350 trucks would enter Gaza each day. UN data shows that a total of 246 trucks entered the strip in the week before this letter and 232 trucks in the week following.

Northern Gaza remains largely cut off from aid and under heavy bombardment, with tens of thousands of residents displaced under mandatory evacuation orders.

“The situation in northern Gaza is worse today than when the letter was written,” said Scott Paul, peace and security director at Oxfam America. “Areas that are experiencing population decline are getting nothing right now.”

According to the IPC, a multi-agency initiative that measures food security, nearly 800,000 people in Gaza are suffering from “emergency” or “disaster” levels of food scarcity.

Cogat, the Israeli Defense Ministry agency in charge of the occupied Palestinian territories, did not respond to a list of detailed questions about aid shortages.

The further tightening of aid delivery comes as Israel’s Parliament on Monday passed legislation that will ban the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, from operating on Israeli territory once the law is in place. effect. Some of Israel’s allies have warned that the measures would have devastating consequences for humanitarian assistance to Gaza.

The Israeli government said in a recent court filing that it had banned the delivery of humanitarian food aid into Jabalia, the northern refugee camp where the heaviest attacks have been taking place in a military campaign. Israel’s war began earlier this month.

However, Israeli officials rejected claims that there were obstacles to getting aid into northern Gaza more widely. They said aid fell in early October because crossings were closed over the holiday period, while military operations had limited access to other areas, but argued there was enough stock. aid reserves in this strip of land.

“We’re not preventing it – we’re working very hard to make sure [aid] enter, [approximately] dozens of trucks every day,” an Israeli official said.

Despite the U.S. letter’s request, humanitarian missions have largely been unable to travel from south to north and few have passed through northern border crossings, although Cogat said Tuesday that 50 trucks had entered north through the Erez border gate.

Aid officials said some shipments to the north were en route to Gaza City but had not reached the areas hardest hit by the current military operation.

Humanitarian officials in the region said much of the aid was looted before it could reach distribution points after law and order broke down in the conflict, as well as after some aid convoys hit by Israeli attacks.

“The entire population of North Gaza is at risk of death,” acting United Nations relief chief Joyce Msuya said this week. An Israeli military official said Monday that about 50,000 civilians have left Jabalia in recent days, but they remain in northern Gaza. The official said an estimated 10,000 people remained in Jabalia.

The US letter requested specific steps to improve the humanitarian situation, including approval of additional drivers and supplies as well as opening a new crossing point.

Blinken told reporters in Tel Aviv on October 23 that the US was “seeing progress,” citing the opening of a fifth border crossing into Gaza. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Monday that more trucks had entered Gaza and that Israel had taken “some other steps,” but those were not enough.

Aid officials say pointing to small logistical improvements while the overall situation worsens has allowed the United States to claim diplomatic success without easing the crisis for the Palestinians.

“You can’t look at the obliteration of northern Gaza and then go back to these narrow metrics and decide ‘we’re making slow, slow progress,’” Paul said.

Data visualization by Aditi Bhandari