120 dead as truckloads of aid wait to enter starvation-hit Gaza. What’s holding them back?

The United Nations and several experts warn that Palestinians in Gaza are facing the risk of famine.

Reports continue to emerge of more people dying from hunger-related causes. Israel, however, says that hundreds of aid trucks are waiting at the border for the UN to distribute them inside Gaza.

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As per the latest update, two more infants have died from malnutrition, as the total number of starvation-related deaths in Gaza climbs to over 120. Among them are more than 80 children, Al Jazeera reported.

The World Food Programme has stated that nearly a third of Gaza’s population is going without food for days. It has warned that 90,000 women and children urgently need treatment for malnutrition.

After nearly two years of intense conflict, the worsening humanitarian situation has led some Western countries, once supportive of Israel’s actions in Gaza, to reconsider their positions.

France said on Thursday that it would soon recognise an independent State of Palestine, joining other European nations that have taken similar steps.

Notably, the leaders of France, the UK and Germany have also agreed that Israel should lift all restrictions on aid access immediately.

On Thursday, Israel’s military took journalists to the Gaza side of the Kerem Shalom crossing, where aid boxes were stacked on pallets across a wide area.

Israel says it has allowed about 4,500 aid trucks to enter Gaza since May, when the full blockade was lifted. This averages to roughly 70 trucks a day, one of the lowest daily rates since the war began and far short of the few hundred that the UN says are needed daily.

Israel argues it is letting in enough supplies and blames UN agencies for not collecting and distributing the aid. The UN says its efforts are blocked by Israeli military restrictions and incidents of criminal looting.

On Friday, Israel said it would now allow foreign countries to airdrop food into Gaza. Jordan and the United Arab Emirates are expected to begin these aid drops in the coming days, The New York Times reported citing COGAT, the Israeli military agency in charge of humanitarian matters in Gaza.

So why has the aid not reached people until now? What is stopping it?

Let’s take a look:

Access denials and unsafe areas

To retrieve the aid at the border or move around most of the Gaza Strip, U.N. trucks must enter zones controlled by the military after obtaining its permission. Once the aid is loaded, the trucks must get safely to the population. The whole trip can take 20 hours, the U.N. says.

Large crowds of desperate people, as well as criminal gangs, overwhelm trucks as they enter and strip off the supplies. Witnesses say Israeli troops regularly open fire on the crowds, causing deaths and injuries.

“Taken together, these factors have put people and humanitarian staff at grave risk and forced aid agencies on many occasions to pause the collection of cargo from crossings controlled by the Israeli authorities,” said Olga Cherevko, a spokesperson for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA.

At least 79 Palestinians were killed while trying to get aid entering Gaza this week, according to Gaza’s health ministry. A U.N. official who was not authorised to discuss the issue publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, said Israeli forces opened fire toward crowds who tried to take food from an entering truck convoy.

Israel’s military said soldiers shot at a gathering of thousands of Palestinians in northern Gaza who posed a threat, and it was aware of some casualties.

On its website, OCHA said there is a breakdown of law and order, which is partly due to the collapse of Gaza’s Hamas-run civilian police force, leading to insecurity at the crossings and for convoys moving within Gaza. It said this is further compounded by the increase of armed gangs.

The military frequently assigns routes for trucks to use that are “unsuitable, either impassable for long truck convoys, passing through crowded markets, or controlled by dangerous gangs,” OCHA said. When the U.N. objects to a route, the military provides few alternatives, it said.

The U.N. also struggles with facilitation from the military. It says more than half its movement requests, 506 out of 894, were either denied or impeded by the military in May, June and July.

There are also regular delays by Israel’s forces in coordination. The delays result in lost time, difficulty planning and wasted resources as convoys spend hours waiting for the “green light to move only to be denied,” OCHA said.

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What is Israel saying?

Israel says it doesn’t limit the truckloads of aid coming into Gaza and that assessments of roads in Gaza are conducted weekly where it looks for the best ways to provide access for the international community.

Col. Abdullah Halaby, a top official in COGAT, the Israeli military agency in charge of transferring aid to the territory, said there are several crossings open.

“We encourage our friends and our colleagues from the international community to do the collection, and to distribute the humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza,” he said.

An Israeli security official who was not allowed to be named in line with military procedures told reporters this week that the U.N. wanted to use roads that were not approved.

He said the army offered to escort the aid groups, but they refused.

What is the UN saying?

For much of the war, U.N. agencies were able to safely deliver aid to those who need it, despite Israeli restrictions and occasional attacks and looting. The Hamas-run police provided public security. But as Israeli airstrikes targeted the police force, it has been unable to operate.

The U.N. says being escorted by Israel’s army could bring harm to civilians, citing shootings and killings by Israeli troops surrounding aid operations.

The U.N. and aid groups also say that looting of trucks lessens or stops entirely when enough aid is allowed into Gaza.

“The best protection for us is community buy-in,” said U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric. “And to get that community buy-in, communities have to understand that trucks will come every day, that food will come every day.”

“That’s what we’re asking for,” he said.

With inputs from AP