Inspections, bottlenecks and security problems are hampering aid to Gaza

Warehouses meant to store aid have become shelters for displaced Gaza residents; Desperate Gazans are looting what warehouses remain and taking food from trucks.

Gaza citizens receiving the supplies “are desperate and angry and in need of food,” said Dr. Guillemette Thomas, a medical coordinator based in Jerusalem for Doctors Without Borders, echoing warnings from U.N. officials who say that a larger and more sustainable flow of aid is needed. needed.

Israeli officials, who insist there is enough food and water for Gaza’s civilians, have blamed the United Nations and said they must find more staff, expand working hours and deploy more trucks to distribute aid. The officials say the army is coordinating with aid groups to arrange safe passage for convoys, announcing daily breaks in the fighting for Gazans to raise aid.

Under pressure from the US, Israel reopened a second Gaza border crossing, Kerem Shalom, in mid-December, allowing aid trucks to pass through.

Colonel Moshe Tetro, the head of Israel’s government liaison with Gaza, told reporters at the Kerem Shalom crossing on Wednesday that Israel has done its part by increasing its capacity to inspect aid.

“The bottleneck, as I see it, is the ability of the international organizations in Gaza to receive this aid,” he said. He added: “I’m sure if we see the other side being more effective, we’ll see more movement.”

When Kerem Shalom reopened, Israel promised to allow 200 trucks per day. Nearly a month later, however, the total number of people entering Gaza per day continues to fall short of that goal: Gaza has received an average of about 129 truckloads of food, water and medical supplies over the past week, according to U.N. figures. That includes 193 trucks on Wednesday, the largest convoy since Kerem Shalom reopened.

These figures also include trucks passing through the Rafah border point with Egypt, which was the only point where aid could pass until Kerem Shalom reopened. Before the war, Rafah mainly treated people in transit to Gaza. Kerem Shalom previously served as a transportation conduit for about 500 trucks a day, about 100 of which carried food and other relief supplies. The rest carried fuel and food for sale, medical supplies and other commercial goods.

Now commercial goods have disappeared and almost all grain factories, bakeries, supermarkets and other shops in Gaza have closed, leaving only a trickle of aid to support the population.

“There are now 2.2 million people who are completely dependent on aid to survive, where previously many could fend for themselves,” said Tamara Alrifai, spokeswoman for UNRWA, the main UN agency providing services and aid to the Palestinians.

Before reaching Gaza, the agreement governing the delivery of aid requires that every truck submit to Israeli inspections to eliminate anything that could benefit Hamas — a process that Senator Chris Van Hollen, a Maryland Democrat who recently visited Rafah to meet with aid officials who are called “completely arbitrary” and “difficult.”

At the Kerem Shalom intersection on Wednesday, a few trucks waited to be screened in a maze of driveways and parking lots. In another lot, trucks that had already been inspected sat idle, including seven loaded with rice, pasta, chickpeas and sliced ​​carrots, as well as ready-to-eat meals donated by World Central Kitchen. Most trucks were not packed, possibly to ease the inspection process.