Liz Allcock of Medical Aid for Palestinians, who is in Gaza, told News that “to say dwindling would be a nice way to describe the humanitarian supplies.”
Kids swarming a charity kitchen with empty pots and pans, demanding food to go home to their relatives. Finding clean water and searching through trash mounds for trash to burn for a fire to cook or stay warm took hours.
As Israel imposes a ban on food, water, fuel, medical supplies, and other aid and products, humanitarian organisations are warning of a dangerous and increasing situation in the Palestinian enclave. These pictures were taken over the course of the previous week by News’ team in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli officials blame Hamas for obstructing assistance delivery and insist that there is “no shortage” in Gaza. Israel claims that its blockade is essential to achieving its objective of lessening the militant group’s demographic control.
According to the World Food Programme (WFP) and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), there is “no evidence” that aid is being diverted in Gaza, they told News. Both cautioned that the enclave’s supplies were running low.
Scraping the barrel
On the ground, humanitarian organisations report a rapidly worsening situation, with bakeries closing for weeks due to a shortage of wheat, family food packages running low, hot meal supplies running low, and medical supplies running low.
Liz Allcock, head of humanitarian protection for Medical Aid for Palestinians, a UK-based humanitarian organisation, told NBC News on Tuesday that “to say dwindling would be putting it nicely” in terms of humanitarian supplies.
Speaking from Gaza, Allcock stated, “We’re really scraping the barrel in terms of being able to provide anything of substance.”
World Food Programme spokesman Abeer Etefa called the situation in Gaza “dire and worsening”, noting that all WFP-supported bakeries in the region had to close on March 31 when the wheat flour ran out. She added that the WFP had run out of food boxes to distribute at the beginning of April.
“Remaining stocks of hot meal commodities are being dispatched to the kitchens of partners providing hot meals,” she stated. She continued, “We have around 1,000 tonnes or less left for these hot meals kitchens.”
According to her, 85,000 tonnes of food are awaiting entry into the enclave by the WFP and its partners.
In March alone, 3,696 children were newly admitted for care for acute malnutrition out of 91,769 children screened, according to a report released by OCHA on Tuesday. This is a significant increase from February, when 2,027 children were admitted out of 83,823 screened, according to the Global Nutrition Cluster, a coalition of humanitarian groups.
Hospitals are still overflowing with casualties, and the UN has warned that medical supplies in the enclave are running low.
The decision to stop the aid flow came just over two weeks before Israel broke its ceasefire with Hamas last month, ending two months of relative calm in the Gaza Strip, Etefa continued, adding that Israeli military activity throughout the enclave was affecting the ability of humanitarian groups to deliver aid.
Israeli policy aid
The policy to halt humanitarian aid in Gaza, according to Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz, is “clear and unequivocal”. He said the action “undermines Hamas’ control over the population and creates an infrastructure for distribution through civilian companies later.”
There is “no shortage of aid”, according to the Israeli Foreign Ministry, which cited the more than 25,000 relief trucks that reached the region during Israel’s ceasefire with Hamas.
Without any proof, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oren Marmorstein told News on Wednesday that Hamas was denying people food “to create an image of shortage”.
According to OCHA spokesperson Jens Laerke, the U.N. agency’s regional staff reported “no evidence of diversion of aid”. Etefa added that the WFP did not encounter any looting during the ceasefire and that it had not seen any proof either.
A request for comment on the charge was not immediately answered by Hamas. However, the militant organisation, which has been the target of demonstrations demanding its disbandment and an end to the conflict, charged Israel on Thursday with committing a war crime by “declaring the use of starvation as a weapon”.
Parties to a conflict are prohibited by international humanitarian law from using hunger as a tactic of war or depriving people of necessities as a justifiable way to defeat an adversary.
In an earlier article on X, Marmorstein denied that Israel’s siege was a violation of international humanitarian law, stating that war parties are not required to permit aid in if it is “likely to assist the military or economic efforts of the enemy”.
The terrorist strike by Hamas on October 7, 2023, which killed 1,200 people and, according to Israeli estimates, captured about 250 more, sparked the war in Gaza. The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza, which has been governed by Hamas since 2007, reports that Israel’s military campaign in the enclave since then has killed over 51,000 Palestinians, including thousands of children.
By the numbers
Over 447,500 tonnes of aid were transported into Gaza by 25,200 relief vehicles during the ceasefire, according to data released by COGAT, the Israeli military’s contact with the Palestinians.
The British Red Cross estimates that before the war started, some 500 trucks a day were entering Gaza with food and other supplies. According to COGAT’s data, this implies that the 25,200 trucks that entered during the ceasefire would probably be enough for about 1½ months, a threshold that was surpassed this week by prewar averages.
For aid entering the enclave between March 2 and April 16, COGAT’s database displays “no data”.
A COGAT spokeswoman informed NBC News that they could only verify that over 25,000 assistance trucks have entered Gaza during the ceasefire when asked about the present state of aid on the ground after being shown the aforementioned data. The spokeswoman directed more enquiries concerning the aid flow to the political leadership of Israel.
The WFP cautioned in a report this month that for 80% of households in Gaza, humanitarian aid serves as their “primary food source”.
In the meantime, it said that Israel’s closure of the territory’s crossings had “exacerbated the fragility of the Gaza market”, causing prices to rise by 29% to as much as 1,400% above prewar levels and by 150% to 700% above prewar levels.
Families in the enclave tell News that they are fighting for their lives as officials argue over the actual situation on the ground.
After standing in queue to collect water at an increasingly scarce distribution station in Al-Mawasi, 12-year-old Hasan Abu Jazar told NBC News’ crew on Monday, “We’ve been deprived of everything — food, water, school — even clothes.” “I’m tired.”
