No apparent work has yet been done on expanding aid to Gaza by opening additional border crossings from Israel or accepting cargo at nearby Israeli ports, but Israel announced Wednesday that both said the changes are still in the works.
Israel, which is facing international condemnation after an Israeli airstrike killed seven workers from an international aid group, announced last week that it would reopen the Erez border between Israel and northern Gaza to deliver aid. But satellite images taken on Tuesday showed the road leading to Erez on the Gaza side blocked by rubble from destroyed buildings, craters and other damage, and images from last week and last month also showed It could be confirmed.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, a spokesman, said on Wednesday that another border to northern Gaza would be opened, not near Erez, but near the kibbutz Zikim. It is not clear whether this is due to damage at Erez.
rubble from
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rubble from
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Gallant told reporters that the government had approved a new border crossing and the port of Ashdod, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) northeast of Gaza, to be used to transport aid, but he did not give a deadline for either. .
The United Nations says man-made starvation is looming in Gaza, and many experts say conditions in northern Gaza, where aid supplies have been largely cut off since the beginning of the war, already meet the criteria for a famine declaration. It has said. There. Hundreds of thousands of people in the region survive on an average of 245 calories a day, according to aid group Oxfam.
Aid groups, the United Nations and a growing number of governments have accused Israel of restricting aid to Gaza. Since October 7, an average of about 110 aid trucks have been arriving each day, according to UN figures. Although the daily average has increased since February, it is still far lower than the 500 trucks loaded with goods and aid that arrived in Gaza each day before then. war.
Israel claims aid agencies are shirking their responsibility to distribute aid. The group argues that Israel has not created a safe environment in which aid can be distributed effectively.
The number of aid trucks Israel has recently allowed into Gaza has also been the subject of controversy, following another promise Israel made after deadly airstrikes against aid workers: increasing the number of trucks subject to inspections. Questions have arisen as to how to evaluate the results of this promise. At the two existing crossings into southern Gaza.
Israel has seen a surge in numbers, with COGAT saying in a social media post on Wednesday that an average of 400 trucks have entered the area a day over the last three days. The agency also posted a photo of a street vendor selling cucumbers, potatoes and juice with the caption “Market scene in northern Gaza.”
People in northern Gaza said in interviews that the few food items available in street markets have long been unaffordable for most people, and the price of many items is several times their original price.
In contrast, a total of 533 aid trucks entered Gaza in the three days starting Saturday, according to UN data. More broadly, UN statistics show that the average daily number of trucks entering Gaza in the first week of April did not increase compared to the previous week.
The reasons for the discrepancy are not clear, but one factor is differences in the methods used by Israel and the United Nations to track trucks, said Jens Raake, a spokesman for the U.N. humanitarian office.
Lerke said Israeli inspectors had interdicted some of the shipments, so the trucks inspected and counted by Israel at the two active border crossings were typically only half full. It will enter the Gaza Strip. Once in Gaza, the shipments are unloaded, repacked into full trucks and sent to UN-run warehouses, although that number is likely to be low as they are counting the number of full trucks arriving.
Other complications also mean that trucks often don't pass through intersections and arrive at warehouses on the same day, meaning the daily numbers at intersections and warehouses often don't match, he said. Stated.
In a statement on Wednesday, COGAT criticized the UN's “flawed counting methodology” as an “attempt to cover up logistical difficulties”.
Israel's previous pledges to increase aid did not significantly increase aid amounts. In mid-December, under pressure from the United States, Israel resumed aid truck access to Kerem Shalom in the Gaza Strip, pledging to allow 200 trucks a day. But aid agencies say that number is far below what is needed due to Israel's stringent inspections.
Raakeh and other aid workers also said there remain significant challenges in distributing aid within the Gaza Strip, particularly in the north, where Israel denies access to UNRWA, the United Nations' main relief agency operating in the area. said that there remains.
aaron boxerman Contributed to the report.