‘Teaspoon’ of aid getting into Gaza due to blockade: UN

[Pelican Press 0]

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‘Teaspoon’ of aid getting into Gaza due to blockade: UN

Israeli air strikes have killed at least six Palestinians guarding aid trucks against looters, ****** officials say, as the head of the United Nations warns only a “teaspoon” of aid is getting in following Israel’s 11-week-long blockade.

The Israeli military said 107 trucks carrying flour and other foodstuffs as well as medical supplies entered the Gaza Strip from the Kerem Shalom crossing point on Thursday, for a total of 305 since Monday when the blockade was relaxed.

But getting the supplies to people sheltering in tents and other makeshift accommodation has been fitful and UN officials say at least 500 to 600 trucks of aid are needed every day.

So far, an umbrella network of ************ aid groups said, 119 aid trucks have got past the Kerem Shalom crossing point and into Gaza since Israel eased its blockade on Monday in the face of an international outcry.

Despite the relaxation of the blockade, distribution has been hampered by looting by groups of men, some of them armed, near the city of Khan Younis, an umbrella network representing ************ aid groups said.

“They stole food meant for children and families suffering from severe hunger,” the network said in a statement, which also condemned Israeli air strikes on security teams protecting the trucks.

The UN World Food Program said 15 trucks carrying flour to WFP-supported bakeries had been looted, which it said reflected the dire conditions facing Gazans.

“Hunger, desperation and anxiety over whether more food aid is coming is contributing to rising insecurity,” it said in a statement.

A ****** official said six members of a security team tasked with guarding the shipments were killed.

Israel imposed the blockade in early March, accusing ****** of stealing aid meant for civilians. ****** rejects the charge, saying a number of its own fighters have been killed protecting the trucks from armed looters.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which generally considers all armed Palestinians as militants.

“****** constantly calls the looters ‘guards’ or protectors’ to mask the fact that they’re disturbing the aid process,” a military official said.

With most of Gaza’s two million population squeezed into an ever narrowing zone on the coast and in the area around the southern city of Khan Younis by Israel’s military operation, international pressure to get aid in quickly has ratcheted up.

“Without rapid, reliable, safe and sustained aid access, more people will die – and the long-term consequences on the entire population will be profound,” said UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

Israel has announced that a new system, sponsored by the United States and run by private contractors, will soon begin operations from four distribution centres in the south of Gaza, but many details of how the system will work remain unclear.

The UN has already said it will not work with the new system, which it says will leave aid distribution conditional on Israel’s political and military aims.

Israel says its forces will only provide security for the centres and will not distribute aid themselves.

As the aid has begun to trickle in, the Israeli military has continued the intensified ground and air operation launched last week, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said would end with Israel taking full control of the Gaza Strip.

Israel launched an air and ground war in Gaza after ****** militants’ cross-border attack on October 7, 2023, which killed some 1,200 people by Israeli tallies and saw 251 hostages abducted into Gaza.

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#Teaspoon #aid #Gaza #due #blockade

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