Hunger In Gaza Persists Despite Convoy Deaths And Disputes Over Supplies

(CTN News) – Five months into Israel’s military campaign, crowds of men ran through rubble-strewn Gaza City streets in hope of reaching a rare aid convoy. Children are dying of malnutrition due to lack of food reaching the Palestinian enclave.

A Palestinian health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza reported last week that Israeli forces shot at 118 people trying to get aid near Gaza City. Trampled or run over during a panic, Israel said.

Gaza aid has gone wrong, as the United Nations cites “overwhelming obstacles”, while Israel insists that the UN must deliver.

Reuters obtained a video of Ahmed al-Talbani, searching for aid in City and shouting and gesticulating as he spoke. “Is there a father in the world who can see his children writing in hunger and remain silent?” he asked.

“Tanks crushed people, trucks crushed people, shells rained down on people, and machine guns were fired over their heads” he said.

Despite hunger approaching catastrophic levels in parts of Gaza and large quantities of aid waiting in warehouses, supplies have slowed to a trickle. 500 trucks entered daily before the conflict. About 97 trucks entered on average per day during February, compared with 150 in January, according to UNRWA.

Five months of war have destroyed many of Gaza’s institutions, undermining social order there. In northern Gaza, convoys move with Israeli coordination for safe passage, and people have seized food convoys. UN claims Israel is responsible for facilitating aid delivery and complains about lack of access.

A safe passage is all UNRWA needs to deliver aid, said Jenny Baez, emergency response officer for the humanitarian agency. Despite UNRWA’s denials, Israel claims UNRWA was complicit in the Oct. 7 attack.

UNRWA reports that Palestinian police, who previously helped secure routes, have stopped doing so following Israeli attacks. A spokesperson for COGAT, the Israeli military branch that coordinates aid transfers, said the organization embeds officers with trucks and facilitates convoys.

In the end, he said, it was up to aid agencies and the UN. On the ground, U.N. agencies are responsible for the convoys’ security.

Freedman said Israel supported air drops into Gaza, since land routes are hard to access.

On Tuesday, parachutes carrying crates of aid drifted down towards Gaza’s beach.

In comparison to trucks, air drops deliver less supplies and may not provide relief to those hardest hit, say aid agencies. Israel has also begun delivering aid to shelters in northern with private contractors. In Gaza, local organisations lack the infrastructure to distribute aid as effectively as we can,” Freedman said.

In order to address that, he said, “we facilitate and coordinate private contractor connections”. The Palestinian Health Ministry called last week’s disaster a massacre, while Israel called it a tragedy. Gazan children under 2 years old are becoming malnourished at an unprecedented rate, according to the World Health Organization.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus asked Israel to deliver humanitarian aid regularly and safely. U.S. envoy Antony Blinken urged Israel to maximize “every available means” to deliver humanitarian aid. The men waiting for food in Gaza City report being shot at repeatedly by Israeli forces.

There is no food in our homes. We are not terrorists or saboteurs,” said Wafi al-Batran, as men gathered around a fire behind him. We will stay here until we can feed our children

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