JERUSALEM (AP) — Under strong pressure from the United States, Israel promised dramatically increase aid to Gazasaying last week that it would open another freight crossing and send more trucks than ever to the beleaguered enclave.
But days later, there is little sign of those promises materializing and international officials say famine is widespread in hard-hit northern Gaza.
Samantha Power, administrator of the US Agency for International Development, said this week that she accepted “credible” reports that famine is occurring in the area and urged Israel to take further steps to expedite humanitarian aid shipments.
Power’s remarks echoed those of the U.S. President Joe Bidenwho said on Wednesday that Israeli efforts to increase aid were “not enough.”
Although Israel claims it has dramatically increased the number of aid trucks entering the territory, UN officials report only a slight increase – possibly because they count the trucks differently.
Here’s what we know about aid entering Gaza and why reporting discrepancies persist:
HOW MUCH AID IS COMING INTO GAZA?
Israel says that since Sunday it has transported an average of 400 trucks a day to Gaza and that aid is now accumulating on the Palestinian side of the Kerem Shalom crossing, one of the two main crossings into the territory.
But Juliette Touma, director of communications for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, said that although aid workers have noticed a slight increase in the amount of aid entering Gaza, it does not compare to the increase that Israel claims.
On Monday, UNRWA says 223 aid trucks passed through. On Tuesday, that number reached 246. On Wednesday, it dropped to 141.
However, only small amounts of aid reach northern Gaza.
WHAT ISRAEL PROMISED?
After Biden said last week that future American support for the war in Gaza depends on Israel doing more to protect civilians and aid workers, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised a series of measures. Biden spoke out after an Israeli airstrike killed seven aid workers delivering food to the strip.
Netanyahu promised to immediately reopen Israel’s Erez crossing into northern Gaza – a pedestrian crossing destroyed by Hamas militants when they invaded southern Israel on October 7. Netanyahu also said he would allow Israel’s port in Ashdod to process aid shipments and increase Jordanian aid. packages via another land crossing.
But Israeli authorities this week abandoned the plan to open Erez. Instead, they say a new crossing will be built, although it is unclear when it will open. The port of Ashdod, however, is still not accepting aid shipments and Gaza aid groups are not reporting any significant increase in the number of trucks received at their warehouses.
Before the last war between Israel and Hamas, around 500 trucks carrying food, fuel and other supplies entered Gaza daily. This was supplemented by fish and produce grown in the territory.
Even that was barely enough in a populous territory whose economy was shaken by a 17-year blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt. The blockade, intended to prevent Hamas from arming itself, restricted the flow of goods in and out of Gaza and contributed to widespread poverty and unemployment.
Scott Anderson, acting director of UNRWA in Gaza, said low levels of aid since the start of the war have worsened the pre-war nutritional deficit in the territory.
“You have to remember that this was not a nutritionally rich environment before the war. The resilience wasn’t there,” Anderson said.
WHY IS THERE A DISCREPANCY BETWEEN THE UN AND ISRAEL FIGURES?
Israel and the UN count trucks arriving in Gaza differently.
Israel counts every truck it inspects and allows to pass through Gaza, according to Shimon Freedman, spokesman for COGAT, the Israeli defense body responsible for Palestinian civil affairs.
At the Kerem Shalom crossing, as soon as the trucks pass into Gaza, the aid pallets they are carrying are deposited in a 1-kilometer-long (half-mile) zone to be collected by Palestinian drivers.
UNRWA only counts trucks, driven by a Palestinian contractor, returning from that area, Anderson said.
He also said that sometimes trucks arriving from Israel are not fully loaded. Palestinian drivers on the Gaza side of the crossing fully load their trucks before passing through the gate – something that may further explain the differences in truck counts.
WHAT IS DELAYING THE TRANSFER OF AID?
Getting out of the Israeli inspection, through the corridor and through the Gaza gate takes time — and is made more arduous by the way Israel uses the Kerem Shalom crossing, Anderson said.
Since the start of the war, Israel has kept the crossing partially closed, Anderson said. Palestinian drivers must also wait for arriving trucks to be unloaded – further narrowing the window of time allowed for collection.
Aid inspected by Israel sometimes sits overnight, awaiting collection. The UN says it stops all operations at 4:30 pm for security reasons due to a collapse in public order and air raids at night. UNRWA says it used to use local Palestinian police to escort aid convoys, but many refused to continue serving after airstrikes killed at least eight police officers in Rafah. Israel says armed Hamas militants tried to divert aid.
COGAT denied allegations that it restricts crossing times or limits the movement of trucks to collect aid and blamed the UN for the support, saying the agency does not have enough workers to transport aid to warehouses for timely distribution.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Wednesday night that increasing aid efforts is a top priority.
“We plan to flood Gaza with aid and hope to reach 500 trucks a day,” Gallant said. He did not specify a timeframe for achieving this goal.
But even if Israel achieves its objective, slow crossings and concerns about train safety could continue to hamper distribution. The UN has called for a return to pre-war procedures – with additional terminals open and a significant amount of commercial goods, as well as humanitarian aid, able to pass through.
“Gaza has quickly become dependent on humanitarian aid donations,” Touma said. “The market was forced to close. This is not sustainable.”
