Aid to Gaza hangs by a thread amid looting and starvation

Israel’s blockade of Gaza may have been partially lifted – and a new US-backed plan to deliver aid has begun. But there are multiple indications that the plight of Gazans is rapidly worsening. Restrictions imposed by the Israeli military on aid routes, ongoing airstrikes, a lack of security and the continuous displacement of tens of thousands of people are aggravating an already alarming situation, according to the UN and other aid agencies. The supplies that do get in risk getting looted. “People in Gaza are starving. This demands the urgent opening of all crossings and allowing unimpeded access for humanitarian organizations to deliver aid at scale, through multiple routes,” the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in its latest assessment. One woman, Umm Zuhair, who was trying to get food for her family on Sunday at one of newly established aid distribution sites, told CNN: “We’re so hungry that we’re willing to risk getting shot just for a kilo of flour.” The number of children in Gaza with acute malnutrition is rising, the UN reported Saturday, while a lack of fuel threatens to close hospitals that are still operating. The Israeli agency handling the inspection of aid going into Gaza, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), said Saturday that 350 trucks containing humanitarian aid had entered the Gaza Strip through the Kerem Shalom crossing in the last week – less than 20 per cent of the volume of goods getting into Gaza before the conflict. And even the aid that gets in frequently does not make it to the most desperate. UN agencies report continuing difficulties with getting distribution routes within Gaza agreed with the Israeli military. OCHA said that out of 16 truckloads ready for distribution last Thursday, five were rejected, including fuel and water, and six failed to reach their destination. Additionally, the looting of aid convoys in Gaza has risen sharply in recent weeks. “Operations have faced unprecedented levels of insecurity and a very high risk of looting, with partners reporting that most looting incidents are conducted by desperate civilians,” according to OCHA. Nahed Shehaibar, head of the Private Transport Association in Gaza, said on Saturday that transport of aid had been suspended “for the third consecutive day due to repeated attacks on trucks, including gunfire that has damaged and put several trucks out of service.” Last week the association reported that one driver was killed and another injured while trying to deliver aid, but Shehaibar said on Sunday that 11 trucks of commercial goods had reached merchants in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza successfully. The distribution of aid through the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), the US and Israeli-backed aid initiative that started operating late last month, has been dogged by security issues. A CNN investigation last week found that dozens of people seeking aid at one of the GHF’s four hubs were killed by Israeli gunfire when they converged on the site before dawn. On Sunday, GHF said it operated three distribution sites - two in southern Gaza and one in central Gaza - to hand out more than 17,000 boxes of food. In addition, GHF said in its daily update that it gave more than 10,000 meals to community leaders north of Rafah in what the organization called a pilot test of “direct-to-community distribution.” But many people who went to the Netzarim site in central Gaza left empty-handed. Mohammad Salim told CNN: “I went at 6 a.m. and found nothing. What’s happening is shameful. I’m holding an empty cardboard box – there’s nothing inside, not even lentils.” He said some people took more than they needed and complained there was no ID-based distribution system, as operated by the UN. CNN has previously reported that GHF has no system in place to screen aid recipients. Nader Musleh, who had walked from Al-Mawasi several kilometers away, agreed. “Some people took five or 10 boxes, and there’s no organization at all,” he said. Mohammad Abu Akouz was one of several civilians who alleged that some people were injured after coming under Israeli tank fire as they made their way to the site. An Israeli military official told CNN that Israeli forces fired what they called “warning shots” from an armored vehicle approximately a kilometer from the distribution site. The official said the area is an active war zone. GHF said it had been unable to open its sites on Saturday, accusing Hamas of making threats against its operations, including against drivers and Palestinian workers. It said the threats had made it impossible to proceed without putting innocent lives at risk. A driver familiar with the operation, who asked not to be named for security reasons, told CNN on Sunday that Hamas had “threatened the bus drivers responsible for transporting workers to the three American aid distribution points, warning them not to continue the transfers.” The drivers had been scheduled to move 180 employees to the three distribution sites, he added. GHF said on Friday that it had distributed more than 140,000 boxes of food, with each box intended to feed a family for half a week. The boxes contain pasta, lentils and cooking oil, among other products. GHF says its goal is to distribute boxes containing enough food for 4.5 million meals each day. After last week’s shootings, GHF appealed to people not to arrive at distribution points “before the official opening time or gather near the gates ahead of schedule. This is for your safety and the safety of others.” The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Saturday in a post on X that gathering outside distribution centers outside of announced hours was “strictly prohibited,” and warned that the areas around the aid hubs were closed military zones between 6 p.m. (11 a.m. ET) and 6 a.m. (11 p.m. ET). The UN says that the use of the Israeli and American-backed GHF has militarized aid distribution and is inadequate for the huge task of feeding families in Gaza. GHF has no presence in northern Gaza. In its latest assessment, OCHA said that 90 per cent of families in Gaza lack the cash needed to buy what little food remains available in markets. “Meat, dairy, vegetables and fruit are nearly absent from people’s diets,” it said. Half of the community kitchens in Gaza have been forced to stop cooking due to lack of supplies or displacement orders, according to OCHA. The UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) – the main agency for supplying aid in Gaza – said Saturday that a nutrition study had found that the percentage of children under 5 suffering from acute malnutrition had risen from 4.7% in the first half of May to 5.8% in the second half of the month. UNRWA said the number of children forced to fend for themselves had pushed an increasing number into “dangerous survival strategies. Children are reported working on the streets, participating in looting or gathering within large crowds in search of food supplies at insecure distribution points.” It’s not just food that is running chronically short. Dr. Mohamed Abu Salmiya, director of Al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza, told CNN on Sunday that the few hospitals in Gaza still operating “will completely shut down within two days if fuel does not enter.” He added that “a large number of the wounded cannot be treated due to the lack of blood supplies and medical equipment,” and medical staff faced difficult choices about which patients to save. The Palestinian Ministry of Health said Sunday that Al-Shifa Hospital and the Baptist Ahli Hospital, both in northern Gaza, were at risk of shutting down service within 24 hours. It said that would mean the collapse of what remains of the healthcare system in Gaza City. In the south, the Health Ministry said the Nasser Medical Complex was operating on a limited fuel supply that will last no more than two days.