Residents of the Gaza Strip desperately need basic needs after more than 21 months of war, but efforts to send assistance to the besieged Palestinian territory and the hungry population face significant obstacles.
UN agencies and humanitarian organizations denounce restrictions imposed by Israel, security risks and the establishment of a mechanism supported by the United States and Israel that has set aside the traditional humanitarian system.
Israel accuses international organizations of having failed, saying that the old system led by the UN allowed Hamas to loot aid trucks.
In the countryside, more than 100 humanitarian NGOs have alerted this week about the risk of famine in the Palestinian territory.
800 Palestinians killed near GHF’s distribution points
The Humanitarian Foundation of Gaza (GHF), designated by Israel for the distribution of Gaza’s help, began operations on May 26, after more than two months of total blockade imposed on the Palestinian territory.
GHF has become the main food aid distribution channel for the more than two million inhabitants of the Gaza Strip, but its operations were contaminated by chaotic scenes and mortal violence around its rare distribution points.
UN and NGOs refuse to cooperate with the GHF, believing that it has been designed to serve Israeli military objectives instead of humanitarian.
“It is not a humanitarian organization … We do not distribute humanitarian aid in completely shaved and militarized areas,” said Arwa Damon, founder of the American NGO Inara, which provides medical and psychological support to children.
He pointed out that GHF distribution points are found along two military corridors in the south and center of Gaza, while the traditional humanitarian network used more than 400 distribution points distributed throughout the Palestinian territory. Due to the massive crowd of civilians trying to recover assistance in only four distribution points, many fatal incidents have been reported.
According to the UN, the Israeli forces have killed about 800 Palestinians who came to seek help from GHF distribution points since the end of May.
Israel opposes a return to the UN system, saying that Hamas exploded by looting the trucks and reluctanting the help that is supposed to be distributed for free.
NGO SIDELINED
International Humanitarian NGOs ensure that large amounts of help are blocked outside Gaza, waiting for the authorization of the Israeli army to enter.
And once in Gaza, it is essential to coordinate with the army, while bombings and struggles continue.
Arwa Damon accused Israel of preventing help delivery by refusing to coordinate with NGOs to guarantee a safe passage in combat areas.
“Getting this coordination is incredibly difficult,” he said. “Not to mention Israel’s lack to provide NGOs with safe routes,” added Arwa Damon.
UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, said it had “thousands of trucks in neighboring countries hoping to enter Gaza, forbidden by Israel since March” on Wednesday.
“Risk of death” for flour
Israel controls everything in the Gaza Strip, but the COGAT, the organization of the Israeli Ministry of Defense responsible for civil affairs in the Palestinian territories, denies having limited the number of humanitarian aid trucks.
On Thursday, the COGAT said that “around 70 food trucks had been downloaded at the crossing points, and that the UN had recovered more than 150 in Gaza.”
But more than 800 trucks are still waiting and the Israeli army has published images that show hundreds of trucks loaded with food aid “immobile inside Gaza”.
The UN agencies and international NGOs reject the Israeli statement that they lack logistics capacity. They remember that help has been effectively distributed in the past, especially during the last truce between Israel and Hamas, which ended in March.
Source: BFM TV
