Even amid Israel’s intensified military operations in Gaza, and the ever-evolving displacement of the enclave’s Palestinian residents, another Israel-Hamas war flash point has come to the fore this week: the entry and distribution of lifesaving aid.
On Tuesday, Israel began distributing food through a controversial U.S.-backed mechanism it is implementing unilaterally in southern Gaza, cutting out international aid organizations that have been working on the ground in the strip for years.
The United Nations has been largely sidelined in Gaza, watching as an observer, with its Gaza staff on standby and its warehouses on the other side of the border in Egypt full of aid, medicine, and fuel that Israel has declined to approve.
Why We Wrote This
The clash over Gaza relief, especially food for people nearing starvation, is increasingly heated. An Israel-backed distribution plan has left U.N. and other relief experts sidelined and harshly critical. Many Palestinians say the food is out of reach.
The Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) said Wednesday it has so far distributed about 14,550 food boxes, totaling 462,000 meals in new Israeli distribution hubs patrolled by U.S. security contractors.
As of Monday, since Israel eased an 11-week siege blocking aid last week, 294 trucks have trickled into Gaza, a fraction of the 500 trucks that experts say are needed daily.
Yet many Gaza residents say they are unable to reach to GHF centers, and U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) spokesperson Jens Lærke criticized the Israeli program Tuesday as “vastly insufficient” and “a distraction from what is actually needed.”
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