Good morning.
As Israel intensifies its assault on Gaza, bombarding the already besieged strip with relentless airstrikes and expanding its ground operations to “take control of all areas”, the international community has urged Israel to open the border for aid. Countries including France, the UK and Canada have threatened action against Israel if it does not stop its assault on Gaza, which were described as“disproportionate” and “intolerable”.
After 11 weeks of a total blockade on all goods, the territory is suffering from an acute shortage of essentials including food, medicine and fuel. So far, 57 childrenhave reportedly diedfrom the effects of malnutrition during this period.
Benjamin Netanyahu finally responded to mounting pressure on Monday, but only to permit a “minimal” amount of aid aimed at preventing famine “both from a practical and a diplomatic standpoint”. The Israeli PM’s announcement came with a significant caveat: food deliveries will go on until Israel’s military and private companies have established militarised hubs to distribute aid under a US-backed plan that the UN has rejected.
For today’s newsletter, I spoke withClémence Lagouardat, Oxfam’s response lead inGaza, who returned last month from six weeks on the ground about the latest developments in Israel’s aid response. That’s after the headlines.
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In the last two months, Israeli strikes and ground operations have reportedly killed more than 3,000 people and displaced 400,000 others. On Sunday, the Israeli military announced plans to intensify attacks with “extensive ground operations” across northern and southern Gaza, aiming to seize “operational control” of large areas of the territory.
That same day, at least 144 people were killed in airstrikes. The escalation came amid the second day of indirect ceasefire negotiations in Doha.
How has the situationdeteriorated?
When Lagouardat arrived in Gaza, about two weeks into the blockade, there was still access to a stockpile of goods. However, stocks quickly became “depleted” and people were using up their “last remaining lifelines” of supplies. “Cooking gas was one of the first things to disappear from the market, meaning that people needed to buy wood. But when wood also became scarce, and with prices increasing, people had to resort to burning waste,” Lagouardat says. Everything follows the same trend, she explains: supplies dwindle, prices skyrocket, most cannot afford supplies while those who can afford it stockpile, increasing the speed at which key commodities and items disappear from the market, and eventually supplies vanish altogether.
“Every day, we see people bartering whatever they have,” Salma Altaweel, a support manager with the Norweigan Refugee Council, says via a translator. “You see people on social media offering one kilogram of rice for baby formula or nappies. People can’t afford to buy virtually anything. The market is almost empty and so people have to rely on what others might have at hand.”
According to the UN, as of 10 Maythere was a 60% drop in meal productioncompared with 25 April, from 1.08m meals being prepared and delivered to 412,000. By 12 May, the closure of additional kitchens resulted in a further drop of around 150,000 – a 75% reduction in daily meal production.
Altaweel is in Gaza City, where the living conditions “get worse by the day. People are sleeping rough. Patients are being evacuated with their beds. People are evacuating under heavy shelling, so they leave with nothing, no clothes, no food, no mattresses or tents.”
Will Israel’s announcement make a difference?
Lagouardat describes Israel’s announcement that it will allow a “basic amount of food” to enter Gaza after two and a half months of a blockade as a “tactical distraction”.
She believes “the number of trucks that they are mentioning at the moment is extremely low and will not solve the situation that we are facing on the ground – it is going to be partial. This is not the solution for what the people in Gaza are facing.
“We also know that when assistance is entering drop by drop, there is an increased risk for humanitarian workers,” Lagouardat says, “because you are bringing very few items to a very desperate situation and people.” These acute circumstances have led toan increase in looting, theft and violence: aid workers at one distribution site run by an NGO were held at knifepoint as it was looted, and Unrwa had to evacuate their staff after thousands of people breached its Gaza City field office and took medications.
Palestinians are left with little choice. Many are now having just one meal a day, made up of only rice and lentils, and parents are reducing their own food intake to ensure their children can eat more. Altaweel says: “You see parents weeping because they can’t feed their children. We are hardly able to hold our head up. Everyone is dizzy and lightheaded, including my children and myself. We have not eaten anything nutritious for months.”
Pushback from the Israeli state
Delivering aid has become more and more difficult, in part due to hostility from the Israeli state, which wants to replace the well-established and heavily audited networks of humanitarian organisations across Gaza withcentral distribution hubs that are secured by the Israeli military and operated by armed US contractors.
In early March, Israel said it wouldimplement new visa and registration rulesfor international aid organisations operating in the Palestinian territories. The new protocols could lead to international NGOs registered in Israel facing deregistration, while new applicants risk rejection based on what the Norweigan Council of Refugees describes as “arbitrary, politicised” allegations.
At the same time, Israeli officials have backed the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a private charity, and private security firms, to take over food distribution in Gaza. Its population would be forced to move south to receive the aid from GHF’s four or five militarised distribution centres. The UN has rejected the plan, saying it “weaponises aid” and threatens to cause mass displacement of Palestinians.
“I think we are being put in a situation where we will not be able to operate, and that will play into Israel’s narrative that has been pushing principal humanitarian organisations out [of Gaza] and trying to push for militarisation and privatisation of aid,” Lagouardat says.
Delivering aid during increasing hostilities
Last week, Israel targeted two of the largest medical facilities in Khan Younis, the Nasser medical complex and the European hospital, among the few that remained operational after 18 months of devastating attacks on Gaza’s healthcare system.
The most recent assault on the Indonesian hospital in northern Gaza left the hospital reportedlyunder siege, with Gaza’s health ministry accusing Israeli forces of “effectively forcing the hospital out of service”. Israel’s military also declared an entire city acombat zoneand launched airstrikes that killed hundreds of Palestinians over the weekend.
“There is only a certain level of risk we can take, institutionally speaking,” Lagouardat said. “Since the beginning of the war in Gaza, we have been pushing our own internal boundaries in terms of what is acceptable risk – from humanitarian and security perspectives – because the humanitarian imperative was so great. But we are reaching a point where the level of risk is so high that I am not sure we will be able to continue operating much longer.”
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