How much food has Israel given into northern Gaza?

Since Israel began a new military offensive in northern Gaza 12 days ago, humanitarian groups say virtually no aid has flowed into the area. Israel’s own statistics show an overall decline in aid deliveries to Gaza compared to the same period in September.

This sparked accusations that the Israeli military was blocking the delivery of food aid to starve Hamas fighters.

Food shortages have prompted a top UN official to warn that “survival supplies are running out” in northern Gaza, while residents on the ground told the BBC the situation was dire. not sustainable.

Joyce Msuya, United Nations Acting Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief, said on Monday that Israel had blocked all food aid entering northern Gaza from October 2 to 15. .

She said a “trickle” of aid was allowed into the territory on Monday, but warned that a lack of delivery fuel would force bakeries to close within days.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly denied that his government intentionally prevents food from reaching northern Gaza.

But the US has warned its allies to urgently increase humanitarian access or risk being cut off from some military support, and now says it is monitoring Israel’s actions in northern Gaza to ensure told the country not to pursue a “starvation policy”.

On Thursday, a United Nations-backed assessment warned that “the risk of famine persists across the Gaza Strip”, adding: “Due to the recent increase in hostilities, there is increasingly There are concerns that this worst-case scenario could come true.”

The Israeli military agency responsible for managing border crossings into Gaza, Cogat, said a total of 5,840 tons of food were transported into Gaza in the first 12 days of October, compared to a total of 75,898 tons in September.

The United Nations said no aid had flowed into northern Gaza in the two weeks before last Sunday, as the US warned its ally in a letter to urgently increase humanitarian access or else risk of some military support being cut off.

In its own statistics, the United Nations said the number of trucks entering Gaza was the lowest since the start of the war a year ago.

Reporting to the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday, Msuya said Israel facilitated only one of 54 attempts to move aid through the Rashid checkpoint in the first two weeks of October.

The checkpoint is located south of Gaza City, where the main coastal road meets Israel’s east-west military road, which effectively bisects the territory.

She added that four other attempts were stymied, but eventually happened. Msuya said while distribution of existing stocks in northern Gaza continued, supplies were “rapidly depleting”.

Meanwhile, the World Food Program (WFP) told the Financial Times on Tuesday that it will run out of food aid to distribute in just a week and a half if Israel does not immediately facilitate deliveries. fresh goods to northern Gaza.

WFP Director in the Palestinian Territories, Antoine Renard, also told the agency that his teams on the ground had only a week’s supply of flour left.

Cogat said 50 trucks carrying aid entered the northern strip on Wednesday.

Georgios Petropoulos – head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Gaza – told the BBC that when aid enters Gaza through Israeli checkpoints, aid groups often lack the ability to distribute it. effective on the other side. He pointed out that while 50 aid trucks were allowed into Gaza on Monday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) only allowed 30 of them to be collected.

The IDF launched a new offensive against Hamas in the north 12 days ago. They said they were seeking to prevent the group’s fighters from regrouping in the area.

Military officials issued evacuation orders affecting about 400,000 people in the northern Gaza Strip, ordering them to move south. But many refused to leave, exhausted by constant relocation and afraid of going to a place where they had no supplies.

Israeli forces surrounded and bombarded the densely populated Jabalia area, including an urban refugee camp, north of Gaza City.

Israel insists that there is no starvation policy in northern Gaza, but some speculate that the reduction in humanitarian supplies represents the implementation of what Israeli media calls “the Generals’ plan”.

Retired Major General Giora Eiland recently told the BBC that civilians should be evacuated from northern Gaza, while remaining Hamas fighters are left alone. “surrender or starve” option.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asserted in an interview with Le Figaro that “the accusation that we are pursuing a deliberate policy to starve the population is completely baseless”.

He previously told the United Nations that Israel was facilitating the import of food amounting to “more than 3,000 calories a day for every man, woman and child in Gaza”.

Residents in northern Gaza told the BBC that food and water supplies had plummeted in recent days.

Awad Hassan Ashour from Jabalia said residents in his area receive very little food and water is scarce.

“Every two or three days they bring us a meal, lunch or breakfast,” he said.

Yousef Qarmout, an evacuee in Jabalia, told the BBC that food and water shortages were making it “unbearable” for those living in the area.

He said the little remaining food was sold for unbelievable prices.

“Life is becoming more and more difficult in northern Gaza, there is no food at all,” he said.

“We also have to pay high prices – for example a can of beans. It costs 20 shekels [£4; $5.30]it’s too much for me because I don’t work, my children don’t work either. We all don’t have any source of income.”

Sayab al-Zad said it was almost impossible to get fresh meat or vegetables, noting that only a few people could afford those products. Instead, his family lives mainly on bread, he said.

“Getting bread for us is a huge challenge, you can lose your life to get bread,” he said.

Petropoulos said organized crime gangs operating in Gaza were exacerbating the problem, with many aid drivers reporting being robbed while transporting food and shelter.

He told the BBC: “I see family shelters being covered for the winter with plastic sheets. You can see them starting to be placed on top of the plastic boxes where people live.”

“The problem is we should be providing it for free to those who need it. But they were robbed and sold to them and now instead get a free plastic sheet so at least you have a waterproof roof for the house.” When it rains, you get into more debt.

“The damage we are seeing from looted equipment and supplies being resold to people in poverty is immense.”

Israel has long accused Hamas of hijacking and stealing aid shipments – something the group has denied.

Michael Fakhri, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to food, accused Israel of pursuing a policy of deliberate starvation in Gaza in an interview with the BBC’s Newshour program on Monday.

“We have seen the impact of their starvation campaign, with high mortality rates – people are dying, not just from hunger but also from dehydration and disease, which often follows,” he said. ”.

“Israel told us what they were doing, they did it, and we saw the consequences.”

Thursday’s report by the United Nations-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) said some 1.84 million people are facing acute food insecurity in high levels, with 664,000 of them facing “emergency” levels of hunger and nearly 133,000 facing “catastrophic” levels of hunger.

The final figure is three-quarters lower than when it last reported in June – an IPC decline due to a temporary increase in humanitarian assistance and commercial supplies from May to August.

However, the IPC said it expected the number of people facing “catastrophic” hunger to almost triple in the coming months as aid and food availability has plummeted since September.

Responding to the report, UN Secretary General António Guterres said on X: “Famine is looming. This is unbearable. Crossing points must be opened immediately, bureaucratic obstacles must be removed, law and order must be restored so that UN agencies can provide life-saving humanitarian assistance.”

Concerns about the situation are growing in Washington and prompted top officials to issue a 30-day warning to Israel to increase access to humanitarian aid in Gaza or risk being cut off from some military support. of America.

The US letter to the Israeli government was signed by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.

The couple said they wrote to “emphasize the United States government’s deep concern for the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza and request that your government take urgent and sustained action within the month.” this to reverse this trajectory”.

However, the EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, scorned the US warning.

“The US told Israel they had to improve humanitarian assistance to Gaza, but they delayed it by a month,” he told reporters in Brussels.

“A month late at the current murder rate. Too many people.”