Desperate Palestinians swarm aid trucks in Gaza
Israel yesterday announced limited pauses in three populated areas of Gaza for 10 hours a day, part of measures to open the flow of aid as hunger concerns surge. On Monday, Israel said that more than 120 truckloads of food aid had been distributed by the UN and other aid agencies on the first day of the partial pause. Tom Fletcher, the United Nations aid chief, said he expected the pauses to last 'a week or so', which he said was 'clearly insufficient' for the scale of the 'atrocity'.
He told the BBC's Today Programme that they faced challenges in bringing aid to Gaza, as 'starving' civilians know the routes of delivery. 'Most of the lorries' on Sunday had flour taken off them by desperate civilians, he said. The people of Gaza got 'quite a bit of food in' yesterday, but 'lots of that got looted', he said. Similar scenes claimed to show 'thousands of Palestinians seeking food' mounting aid trucks in Rafah's Morag corridor on Saturday, before the pause came into effect. Separate footage was said to show protesters trying to block aid from entering Gaza in the early hours of July 28.
As aid started to trickle in, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday reiterated that Israel is not conducting a deliberate campaign of starvation in Gaza. 'There is no policy of starvation in Gaza and there is no starvation in Gaza,' he told a conference in Jerusalem. Mr Netanyahu's government faces mounting backlash from aid groups and journalists working in the strip, who warn that Palestinians do face starvation and famine. Mr Fletcher said the UN welcomed 'Israel's decision to support a one-week scale-up of aid, including lifting customs barriers on food, medicine and fuel from Egypt and the reported designation of secure routes for UN humanitarian convoys'.
He said some movement restrictions appeared to have been eased on Sunday, citing initial reports indicating that over 100 truckloads of aid were collected. 'But we need sustained action, and fast, including quicker clearances for convoys going to the crossing and dispatching into Gaza; multiple trips per day to the crossings so we and our partners can pick up the cargo; safe routes that avoid crowded areas; and no more attacks on people gathering for food.' The UN aid chief said the world was calling out for life-saving humanitarian assistance to get through - but stressed that 'vast amounts of aid are needed to stave off famine and a catastrophic health crisis'. 'Ultimately of course we don't just need a pause - we need a permanent ceasefire,' he added. During the pause on Sunday, at least 63 people were said to have been killed across Gaza.
An Al Jazeera reporter in Gaza said that an air strike hit a designated safe area in Gaza City. Locals said that a bakery was targeted. The UN's World Food Programme (WFP) said the pauses and corridors should allow emergency food to be safely delivered. 'Food aid is the only real way for most people inside Gaza to eat,' it said in a statement. It said a third of the population had not been eating for days, and 470,000 people in Gaza 'are enduring famine-like conditions' that were leading to deaths. It also said it had enough food in, or on its way to, the region to feed the 2.1 million people in the Gaza Strip for almost three months. UN rights chief Volker Turk said Israel, as the occupying power in Gaza, was obliged to ensure sufficient food was provided to the population. 'Children are starving and dying in front of our eyes. Gaza is a dystopian landscape of deadly attacks and total destruction,' he said in a statement.
The IDF said that allowing a 'tactical pause in military activity' to allow humanitarian aid in would 'refute the false claim on international starvation'. These were to take place from 10am until 8pm in Gaza City, Deir al-Balah and Muwasi, all with large populations. Aid trucks started moving towards Gaza from Egypt, the Egyptian state-affiliated Al Qahera News TV said on Sunday. Dozens of trucks carrying tonnes of humanitarian aid moved towards the Karam Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing in southern Gaza, the Al Qahera correspondent said. Israel said that it began aid airdrops to Gaza on Saturday and was taking several other steps to ease the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Still, Israel faces a growing chorus of voices urging more be done to ensure swift and full delivery of aid to Gaza's civilian population. Last Wednesday, more than 100 largely aid and rights groups called for foreign governments to take action, demanding the lifting of all restrictions on the flow of aid. 'As the Israeli government's siege starves the people of Gaza, aid workers are now joining the same food lines, risking being shot just to feed their families. 'With supplies now totally depleted, humanitarian organisations are witnessing their own colleagues and partners waste away before their eyes,' the organisations said. 'The Government of Israel's restrictions, delays, and fragmentation under its total siege have created chaos, starvation, and death.' Doctors operating in the strip report that scores of Palestinians have died from malnutrition in recent days, amid aid shortages. And France's Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency warned last week its journalists 'might die of hunger', urging Israel to allow reporters to leave.
Israel has said that Hamas is using a so-called 'famine narrative' to leverage hostage talks. Last week, Israel and the United States said they were leaving talks in Doha, suggesting a cynical 'lack of desire to reach a ceasefire' from Hamas. Hamas responded with incredulity and insisted it did want to continue negotiations. Israel has said it will not agree to a ceasefire until Hamas gives up power in Gaza and disarms. Hamas says it is willing to leave power but not give up its weapons. For the time being, the people of Gaza and Israel are no closer to lasting peace and the return of the hostages still held by Hamas.
Israel has always maintained that it is not responsible for the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza. But its allies outside of the United States increasingly issue warnings that civilians are starving and Israel must do more to uphold its obligations under international humanitarian law. Israel had hitherto supported a US-backed private aid operation called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). But the mission too faced pressure after the UN reported that Israeli forces had killed more than 1,000 Palestinians seeking food aid, mostly near the distribution points.
Israel accused Hamas of instigating chaos near the aid sites. It said its troops had only fired warning shots, and that they do not deliberately shoot civilians. The GHF accused Hamas of massive aid theft in defending its distribution model. But an internal U.S. government analysis released last week found no evidence of systematic theft by Hamas of U.S.-funded humanitarian supplies, challenging the main rationale that Israel and the U.S. give for backing the aid operation.
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