Humanitarian organizations warned on Tuesday that even almost four weeks after the conclusion of the cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, deliveries of humanitarian aid are still ongoing. With winter approaching, they also point to a lack of tents in the war-torn region, where hundreds of thousands of people have had to leave their homes. TASR informs about it based on a Reuters report.
- Humanitarian organizations draw attention to limited humanitarian aid in Gaza.
- The ceasefire did not bring the expected improvement in food supplies to the area.
- Israel accuses Hamas of stealing humanitarian aid in Gaza.
- Hundreds of thousands of people in Gaza struggle with a lack of basic necessities.
According to the World Food Program (WFP), only half of the expected amount of food has flowed into the Gaza Strip since the October 10 ceasefire. Palestinian organizations have said that the total amount of aid delivered is a quarter to a third of the expected amount.
Lack of help
Israel says it is meeting its obligations under the cease-fire agreement, which calls for an average of 600 aid trucks to enter the Gaza Strip a day. He blames the possible lack of food on militants from the Palestinian movement Hamas, who, according to him, are stealing aid supplies. The group denies this.
The local administration in the Gaza Strip says that most trucks do not reach their destinations due to restrictions imposed by Israel, and only about 145 vehicles make it a day.
Winter and hunger
WFP spokeswoman Abeer Etefa described the current situation as a race against time. “We need full access. We need everything to move quickly,” she said. “The winter months are approaching. People are still suffering from hunger and their needs are huge,” she pointed out.
Since the ceasefire, the agency has delivered 20,000 tons of food aid, about half the amount needed to meet people’s needs, and opened 44 of a planned 145 distribution points.
Improvement in the south of the territory
However, despite the complications, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) announced last week that the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip had improved since mid-October and the number of malnourished children had dropped by 14 percent. Half of the families in the Gaza Strip, especially in the south, reported better access to food. However, the organization points out that the situation in the north of the Palestinian territory is still extremely bad.
