Questions remain as Israel expresses support for more aid to Gaza

The Israeli military said Thursday it is supporting new initiatives to get humanitarian aid into Gaza by land, air and sea, just hours after the army’s chief spokesman said it was trying to “flood” the enclave with much-needed aid.

Israel has approved three new aid efforts in the past week: a ship carrying food approaching the Gaza coast; airborne landings abroad; and an initial convoy of six trucks heading directly from Israel into northern Gaza, where aid groups say hunger is worst, for the first time since October 7.

The public signals from Israeli officials follow increasingly urgent calls from the United States and other allies for Israel to do more to ease the humanitarian crisis caused by its invasion. The United Nations has warned that parts of Gaza are on the brink of famine.

Dahlia Scheindlin, an Israeli political analyst and columnist at Haaretz, said Israel is coming under pressure from all sides and that images from Gaza of emaciated, starving children may have been “a tipping point” for policymakers. “There is a limit to how much opprobrium Israel is willing to accept and stand behind and say we are right,” she said.

Aid agencies and U.N. officials say the new efforts are too small and inefficient to meet the enormous needs of Gaza’s citizens. They have argued that it would be better for Israel to relax truck entry restrictions at established border crossings into the enclave, and do more to speed up the delivery of goods into Gaza.

Airdrops are ineffective and largely symbolic, these groups say, and can deliver only a fraction of the food that a truck convoy can transport. Setting up the infrastructure for maritime aid deliveries will be expensive and take time: US officials have said it could take weeks before a floating pier for maritime aid is operational.

“Air and sea are not a substitute for land and no one is saying otherwise,” Sigrid Kaag, the UN humanitarian and reconstruction coordinator for Gaza, said last week.

But land deliveries also face challenges that critics say Israel must try to address.

The Israeli bombardment of Gaza has damaged the roads used by aid trucks. Civil order has collapsed. Desperate Gazans have looted food and taken it from trucks. Convoys have come under fire.

In addition, humanitarian organizations have said strict Israeli inspections have created bottlenecks for aid trucks at the two open border crossings into the enclave, both of which are in the south, far from the north where food shortages are most severe.

Israel has insisted throughout the war that it is committed to allowing as much aid as possible into Gaza. and it has blamed the delays on UN personnel and logistics.

“The problem is not scanning and delivering aid to Gaza, it is how much the UN can raise and deliver inside Gaza,” said Col. Elad Goren, an official at the Israeli agency that oversees policy for the Palestinian territories. known as COGAT. , told reporters Thursday.

The new relief efforts are not immune to some of the same logistical challenges. Israel has said it will continue to carry out strict inspections on supplies entering Gaza, arguing that Hamas could divert goods for use. Food dropped by air or sea must still be distributed on the ground.

But Israel appears increasingly willing to express support for the initiatives. On Wednesday, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant visited northern Gaza and reviewed preparations for a new maritime humanitarian route, calling aid “a central issue,” according to a Defense Ministry statement. Then, chief military spokesman Vice Admiral Daniel Hagari told reporters that Israel plans to “flood” northern Gaza with aid and scale up entry points. This is reported by the Associated Press.

The Israeli army reported on Thursday videos and photos of airdrops and trucks entering northern Gaza, saying it “continues to expand its efforts to enable humanitarian access to the Gaza Strip” by air, land and sea.

Ms. Scheindlin, the political analyst, said it was striking how “humanitarian aid suddenly became important.”

One reason is “certainly” the US call for Israel to do more to protect civilians, she said. There is also a recent interim ruling from the International Court of Justice hanging over Israel. The court ordered Israel to take steps to prevent its forces from committing genocide in Gaza and to increase the amount of humanitarian aid reaching the territory’s citizens.

“There is a realization that the international community is watching,” she said.

Adam Sella reporting contributed.