Aid agencies have disputed US claims that nearly 15,000 aid trucks have entered Gaza since the US-backed October 10th ceasefire agreement. This agreement called for the restoration of the free flow of aid which had been blocked by Israel since March 2nd.
White House spokesman Dylan Johnson said on Sunday that an average of 674 trucks have entered Gaza daily since the ceasefire began and that more than one million people had received household food parcels.
In addition, he said meal production in Gaza has increased 82 per cent since late September.
“The United States is leading a historic effort to address the critical needs of Gazans right now,” Mr Johnson stated.
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However, the World Food Programme (WFP) reported that just half the required food aid for 2.2 million people is entering the enclave while a coalition of Palestinian relief agencies say total aid deliveries amount to just one-quarter of the volume mandated by the ceasefire.
Aid convoys are restricted to two crossings in southern Gaza. The WFP said Israel has not provided a reason for closure of northern crossings.
Gaza’s official media office said last week that 171 trucks daily – 28 per cent of the agreed-upon number of 600 aid trucks – have been allowed to enter the area.
The media office said Israel has “engineered starvation” by banning more than 350 nutritional food items such as eggs, meat, cheese, vegetables and supplements while allowing fizzy drinks and chips.
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The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said families in southern Gaza now have two meals a day, but no aid is reaching northern Gaza.
Deputy UN spokesperson Farhan Haq reported that Israel has rejected 107 applications for the entry of “blankets, winter clothes, and tools and material to maintain and operate water, sanitation and hygiene services.”
He said that 90 per cent of the requests were from 30 non-governmental organisations, half of which were not authorised by Israel to work in Gaza. Mr Haq called for the lifting of all restrictions.
Aid agencies are faced with the job of providing assistance to shifting groups of displaced people, including 689,000 moving from the south to ravaged home communities in the north since the ceasefire.
The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) has expressed alarm that shelter materials were being blocked from entering Gaza as winter approaches. Thousands of displaced Palestinians are living in makeshift tents which will not survive storms.
In a post on X, the NRC stated: “The devastation, destruction and trauma in Gaza will take years and even generations to recover from. Humanitarian agencies must be granted full and unrestricted access to properly scale up and address the immense needs. All crossings must be opened.”
