Agencies
Gaza
The amount of aid reaching Gaza has dropped to the lowest level since December, official Israeli figures show, despite the US having issued a 30-day ultimatum last month threatening sanctions if there was no increase in humanitarian supplies reaching the territory.
The ultimatum was delivered on 13 October, so will expire on Tuesday or Wednesday. It is unclear what measures Israel’s apparent failure to fulfil US demands will trigger, but they may include a temporary halt to the supply of some munitions or other military assistance.
In an apparent last-minute concession on Monday, Israeli authorities announced an extension of the designated “humanitarian zone”, adding inland areas which could partially relieve intense overcrowding and allow some displaced people to move away from the coast as winter approaches.
However, Israel appears to have ignored most of the demands made in a letter sent jointly by Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, and Lloyd Austin, the defence secretary, on 13 October.
Aid officials in Gaza describe the situation in much of the territory, where more than 80% of the population of 2.3 million have been displaced and more than two-thirds of buildings have been destroyed or damaged in 13 months of war, as “apocalyptic”.
“Almost nothing is getting in any more. The small street markets that sprung up have all gone. There’s a bit of flour, some washing-up liquid … a kilo of tomatoes costs nearly $20. Even if you have money there is nothing to buy. Everyone is going hungry again,” said one UN official.
Israel imposed a total blockade of Gaza in the first weeks of the war, before gradually easing restrictions under international pressure. Deliveries of aid peaked in May, when 117,000 tonnes of food entered Gaza on more than 6,000 trucks. Tents, medicine and other vital supplies also reached the territory.
Statistics released by Cogat, the Israeli military authority charged with coordinating humanitarian aid for Gaza, show that only 25,155 tonnes of food aid entered Gaza in October, less than in any full month since December 2023. Only 8,805 tonnes of aid has crossed through Israeli checkpoints into the territory so far this month. In October, 57 trucks a day were allowed to cross into Gaza on average – far short of the 350 trucks a day demanded by the US and the 600 a day that aid agencies say are necessary to meet basic needs. So far, only 624 trucks have entered the territory in November, the Cogat statistics show.
It is unclear if the statistics include crossings on Sunday, when more than 170 trucks and fuel tankers entered Gaza, according to Cogat.
Israeli officials reject the charge that aid is deliberately restricted and accuse humanitarian agencies of failing to organise its distribution. UN logistics specialists in Gaza say Israeli military operations and general lawlessness often prevent them from collecting supplies, leaving hundreds of truckloads stranded at the border. Humanitarian agencies also suffer from a shortage of drivers, communications equipment, protective gear and much else. Since May, only a tenth of more than 300 requests to Cogat to issue permits to individual drivers have been granted, UN officials said.
Coordination with the Israeli military authorities is also laborious and time-consuming, and many requests for convoys are turned down. In October, Israeli authorities directly denied or impeded 58% of aid movements, aid agencies said.
Lawlessness has led to systematic looting of about a third of all aid brought into Gaza, UN officials said. Some was taken by Hamas, which retains some influence in much of the territory, but most was stolen by criminal gangs for resale. Private commercial convoys have also been stopped.
The US has previously demanded that Israel allow in more aid but done little to enforce its requests, even reportedly ignoring its own agencies after they concluded that Israel had deliberately blocked deliveries of food and medicine to Gaza. US law requires that weapons shipments be cut off to countries that prevent the delivery of US-backed aid.
