Aid supplies still to reach Palestinians, UN says
Experts have warned that many of Gaza’s two million residents are at high risk of famine.
Two days after aid began entering Gaza, the desperately needed new supplies have not yet reached people in Gaza, which has been under an Israeli blockade for nearly three months, according to the United Nations.
Experts have warned that many of Gaza’s two million residents are at high risk of famine.
Israel pressed ahead on Tuesday with its new military offensive in region despite mounting international criticism, launching airstrikes that health officials said killed at least 85 Palestinians.
Israeli officials said they also allowed in dozens more trucks carrying aid.
Under pressure, Israel agreed this week to allow a “minimal” amount of aid into the Palestinian territory after preventing the entry of food, medicine and fuel in an attempt to pressure the Hamas militant group.
UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said that although the aid has entered Gaza, aid workers were not able to bring it to distribution points where it is most needed, after the Israeli military forced them to reload the supplies onto separate trucks and workers ran out of time.
After the first five trucks entered on Monday, dozens more began entering via the Kerem Shalom crossing on Tuesday afternoon, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oren Marmorstein said.
Cogat, the Israeli defence body that oversees humanitarian aid, said five trucks entered on Monday and 93 trucks entered on Tuesday. But Mr Dujarric said the UN confirmed only a few dozen trucks entered Gaza on Tuesday.
The aid included flour for bakeries, food for soup kitchens, baby food and medical supplies.
But none of that aid actually reached Palestinians, according to the UN.
Mr Dujarric described the new security process for getting aid cleared to warehouses as “long, complex, complicated and dangerous”.
The UN humanitarian agency said it is prioritising baby formula in the first shipments.
Mr Marmorstein said Israel would allow dozens of aid trucks per day — far less than the 600 that entered daily during the latest ceasefire that Israel ended in March.
The United Nations humanitarian agency received approval for about 100 trucks to enter Gaza, spokesman Jens Laerke said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he decided to let in limited aid after pressure from allies, who told him they could not support Israel while devastating images of starvation were coming out of Gaza.
