Gaza Confronting Israeli-Created Famine

Kerem Shalom Food Aid Trucks Drop 80% to 24 Trucks a Day

Palestinians displaced from Rafah city to Deir al-Balah due to Israeli attacks, wait in long queues to get a bowl of food distributed by charity organisations in Deir al-Balah, Gaza on 13 May 2024. Photo credit: Andalò Agency

Although the United Nations has not officially declared a famine in Gaza, people living there are in no doubt about it.

The New Humanitarian quotes Diana Harrara, a 33-year-old mother of three in Gaza: “No word better describes what we’re experiencing than ‘famine.’ Firstly, we have nothing to eat but flour and canned food which we can only obtain as aid. This aid is inconsistent—either small in quantity or infrequent. And even when we do get it, we end up leaving the food behind when rushing from one shelter to the next.”

In the past week, Israel again gave expulsion orders to thousands of Palestinians in Gaza.

The severe food shortages in Gaza is caused by Israeli bombing of farms and gardens and its restrictions on the number of aid trucks permitted in, as well as the chaos and destruction wrought on the networks of food delivery activists. Last week Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich ignited a firestorm when he maintained that it would be morally and legally justified to starve all 2.2 million Palestinians in Gaza to death.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported this week that since early May, the quantity of aid shipments that entered Gaza through the Kerem Shalom Crossing and were collected by relief organizations plummeted by more than 80%, decliningfrom an average of 127 trucks per day in April to approximately 23 trucks per day in July.

The report continues that whereas most of the aid consignments entering Gaza between January and April passed through the Kerem Shalom Crossing, this proportion has progressively diminished. Currently, the aid retrievable by humanitarian agencies from this crossing accounts for merely 29% of the total aid entering Gaza.

Overall, since the onset of the Rafah ground operation and the sudden closure of the Rafah Crossing in early May, the volume of humanitarian aid entering Gaza has more than halved, falling from an average of 169 trucks per day in April to 94 trucks per day in May and further to fewer than 80 trucks per day during June and July. During the first week of August, out of 67 scheduled humanitarian aid operations in northern Gaza, which were organised in coordination with the Israeli authorities:merely 24 were carried out, nine encountered obstacles, 29 were refused passage, and five were called off due to logistical, operational, or security issues.

Similarly, in southern Gaza, out of 99 coordinated humanitarian relief missions, 48 were executed with Israeli assistance, 7 faced hindrances 33 were barred and 11 were annulled.

Not only are the number of aid trucks entering Gaza down by 80% since May 1, but the aid personnel who distribute it inside the Strip have faced unprecedented levels of death at the hands of the Israeli military: Humanitarian relief professionals working within the Gaza Strip continued to face significant hazards while providing crucial aid in a precarious and hazardous setting, with numerous individuals, along with their families, having been killed. On 7 August earlier this month, the World Central Kitchen disclosed that an Israeli airstrike near Deir al Balah resulted in the death of one of their employees, a father of four. As per information from the UN and collaborating organisations, a minimum of 287 aid personnel which encompasses 205 UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency) staff members have lost their lives since October 2023.

Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA Commissioner-General, said that the number of UNRWA staff killed is “by far the largest loss of personnel killed in a single conflict or natural disaster since the creation of the United Nations,” adding that “these are not numbers…[they] are teachers, doctors, nurses, engineers, support staff, technicians who spent their life supporting the community. Many were killed with their families, others were in the line of duty.”