How does humanitarian aid reach the Gaza Strip?

The UN Security Council on Thursday called on Israel to “further” to deliver humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip in the face of the threat of “imminent famine.”

In recent days, Israel highlighted the increase in the number of trucks entering the Palestinian territory, but humanitarian organizations consider that the efforts remain insufficient.

Here are the shipment routes:

Arrival from Egypt and inspection

Aid generally arrives in Egypt through the ports of Port Said or El Arish, the closest to Gaza but small.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced new devices to increase deliveries on April 5. The aid would arrive through the port of Ashdod, in southern Israel and near Gaza, and through a new land border crossing, but authorities did not give dates.

For now, the majority of trucks enter through the Rafah crossing, on the border between Egypt and Gaza, where they wait for days in a transit area with a capacity of about 50 seats, insufficient according to NGOs.

The shipments are subject to scrupulous control, making long round trips to the inspection points of Kerem Shalom and Nitzana, in Israel.

Entry into southern Gaza

The products authorized to enter are unloaded in the area between Egypt and Gaza and loaded into other vehicles, driven by Palestinians employed by NGOs.

NGOs blame the slow delivery of aid on drastic controls, while Israeli authorities allege the organizations’ inability to manage the quantities.

“We have adapted and improved our aid delivery mechanisms, UN aid agencies must do the same“, stated on Thursday COGAT, the Israeli body in charge of civil affairs in the occupied Palestinian territories.

On Tuesday, 468 trucks were allowed into Gaza, the highest number since the start of the war according to Israel, which says it aims to soon reach a daily average of 500.

However, United Nations figures often differ. A spokesman for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Jens Lerke, stated on Tuesday that the trucks are half empty, “a requirement” imposed by Israel to facilitate inspections, according to him.

Insufficient aid for the north

Delivering aid to the north, where the humanitarian crisis is deepest, is extremely complex due to destruction and fighting.

Several convoys have been blocked by Israeli authorities, and others were looted by crowds of Palestinians.”starving“, according to the NGOs.

Israel indicated that the Erez border crossing between the Palestinian territory and southern Israel, currently closed, will be used to deliver aid.

However, Israeli media indicated on Thursday that the government is looking for an alternative for security reasons and that it wants to open an access in the nearby town of Zikim to directly access northern Gaza.

Air and sea

Several countries (United States, Jordan, United Arab Emirates, France, Belgium…) carry out airdrops, especially in the north.

The opening of a maritime corridor between Cyprus and Gaza allowed the arrival of a ship with 200 tons of supplies in March. According to the Spanish NGO that owns the ship, Open Arms, the Israeli authorities inspected “thoroughly” the cargo in the Cypriot port of Larnaca.

The US military also plans to build a dock in Gaza to unload aid on a large scale.

However, international organizations and Gazans consider that these initiatives are not enough, since they involve small amounts, randomness and the danger of dropping aid on densely populated areas.