The humanitarian blockade of the Gaza Strip is about to be lifted. After the peace agreement between Hamas and Israel and the release of the hostages, NGOs hope to regain free access to the enclave devastated by two years of war and starved by the restrictions imposed by Israel.
At the end of the Sharm el-Sheikh summit in Egypt, Emmanuel Macron on Monday welcomed an “acceleration” of humanitarian operations with “larger volumes than planned.”
300 trucks instead of 600
On the ground, the situation appears to be improving, but continues to fluctuate. According to the United Nations Office of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the World Health Organization (WHO), Israel has in recent days allowed in humanitarian and medical aid, including cooking gas, for the first time since March, as well as additional tents for the displaced, fresh fruit, frozen meat, flour and medicine.
“Since the ceasefire came into effect, the UN and our humanitarian partners have been able to move more freely in the areas of Gaza from which Israeli forces have withdrawn, without coordination with the Israeli authorities,” a United Nations spokesperson said during a press conference on Tuesday.
But at the same time, the UN also regretted in a statement that Israel has only allowed 300 of the 600 humanitarian aid trucks from the UN and other NGOs to enter the Gaza Strip, “accusing Hamas of having violated the ceasefire agreement by returning only four bodies of deceased hostages so far.”
NGOs return to Gaza
Since the breakdown of the previous truce and the resumption of the Israeli offensive in March 2025, humanitarian aid remained the monopoly of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), an opaque organization funded by Israel and the United States, accused of exploiting humanitarian aid for political and military purposes.
GHF food distributions have also been marked by deadly shootings. According to the UN human rights office, “more than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli army while trying to obtain food.”
The US plan for peace in Gaza, announced at the end of September and accepted by Israel, plans to return the management of humanitarian aid, “without interference”, to the UN, the Red Crescent and international organizations.
“Emergency for the most basic needs”
For NGOs, the challenge is immense. The conflict has left more than 67,000 dead and 160,000 injured, including 42,000 living with long-term disabilities such as amputations. Thousands of other residents suffer from illnesses related to living conditions in the enclave or untreated chronic illnesses. Gaza’s healthcare system is on its knees, with only 14 of the enclave’s 36 hospitals remaining (partially) operational.
Displaced several times during military operations by the Israeli army, the population is also affected by famine, officially declared by the UN last August, while Israel accuses Hamas of looting aid.
More than two-thirds of buildings have been damaged or destroyed, according to figures from the UN satellite analysis service from September 2024. Infrastructure, including the crucial water distribution network, is also largely destroyed.
“There is an emergency regarding the most basic needs in Gaza: medical equipment, medicines, food, water, fuel and adequate shelter for two million people who will have to face the winter without a roof,” Jacob Granger, emergency programs coordinator for Doctors Without Borders (MSF), summarizes to AFP.
60 day plan
TO The 60-day plan announced by the UN provides for food aid for 2.1 million people and more specific nutritional aid for 500,000 people suffering from severe malnutrition. It includes distribution in kind, support for bakeries and collective kitchens, as well as cash for 200,000 families to buy the food of their choice.
The UN also aims to provide water and sanitation services to 1.4 million people. “We will help repair the water distribution network (…), sewage leaks,” “we will remove waste from residential spaces and provide hygiene products, soap, shampoo, laundry detergent, sanitary pads,” Tom Fletcher, head of UN humanitarian operations, detailed on Thursday.
The UN will provide more equipment and medicines, increase medical evacuations, deploy more emergency medical teams, strengthen basic care and support for mental health problems. The distribution of “thousands of tents every week” is planned. And the plan foresees the reopening of temporary educational centers for 700,000 children.
Remove obstacles
But NGOs face logistical difficulties. “The difficulty we have now is access issues,” Antoine Renard, director of the World Food Program in the Palestinian Territories, told AFP. “Trump’s plan says that we will return to the system that was in force during the previous ceasefire (January 2025), but the conditions on the ground are different,” he adds, highlighting the significant population displacements that have occurred since then.
With the new Israeli offensive in the north of the Gaza Strip in mid-September, hundreds of thousands of people fled to the center and south of the territory. This created additional “pressure” in areas where residents were already struggling to feed or care for themselves due to severe shortages, the aid worker explains.
The World Food Program is calling on Israeli authorities to remove barriers to entry for “more than 170,000 tonnes of WFP-managed food ready for shipment or already in transit through the corridors of Ashdod, Egypt, Jordan and the West Bank.”
“This is enough basic food to feed Gaza’s entire population of more than two million people for three months. But to ensure large-scale deliveries, WFP requires rapid and efficient use of all entry points, safe and unhindered humanitarian access, the rehabilitation of vital infrastructure and storage facilities, and faster customs clearance protocols at the port of Ashdod,” the organization details. of the UN.
Medical equipment banned from entering Gaza
For other NGOs, the situation is stagnant. “Specifically regarding humanitarian medical aid, we have not seen any significant improvement,” Claire San Filippo, head of Gaza emergencies for Doctors Without Borders, tells BFMTV.
The French NGO continues to face “the same important and systematic limitations by the Israeli authorities that prevent us from transporting the material necessary for our medical and health activities.”
The humanitarian agency denounces a “lack of clarity and coherence regarding the products authorized to enter Gaza.” The Israeli military is tracking so-called “dual-use” items, considered dangerous if they are diverted from their medical usefulness. “Currently, for example, crutches or solar panels are prohibited,” Claire San Filippo illustrates.
“A shipment can be rejected en masse for a single item without the reasons being communicated and even if that item had previously been accepted,” it continues.
As a result, MSF indicates that it has 206 tons of equipment pending validation or import in the different access corridors to the Gaza Strip.
“It is not the end of the crisis”
If the bombs stop falling on Gaza, “it will not be the end of the humanitarian crisis,” insists Claire San Filippo of Doctors Without Borders.
“The kinetics of mortality will decrease with the end of the bombings, but it will continue exponentially because there are many malnourished people, many injured and we will not be able to recover a completely destroyed health system overnight,” Jean-François Corty, president of Doctors of the World, adds to Franceinfo.
The two French medical NGOs ask the States to take care of the most seriously injured. “More than 15,000 people, a quarter of whom are children, are waiting to be medically evacuated out of the Gaza Strip because the health system can no longer meet their medical needs,” says Claire San Filipo. “We know that more than 700 patients have died while waiting for medical evacuation.”
Source: BFM TV
