Gaza
Israel allows an average of 100 trucks per day to enter Gaza, but aid groups say 500 trucks per day are needed
Fri January 19, 2024 11:00 GMT
The US claims it is working “tirelessly” to bring humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, despite the UN warning that the territory's 2.2 million people are “severely food insecure and at risk of famine”.
Antony Blinken described the situation in Gaza as “shocking” in his speech in Davos this week. But the U.S. secretary of state failed to make major progress in increasing the amount of aid coming into the territory during his recent visit to Israel, even as leaders of international organizations advocate for urgent access.
United Nations special rapporteurs said this week that “every single person in Gaza is starving” and that “Israel is destroying Gaza's food system and using food as a weapon against the Palestinian people.” Israeli inspections have slowed the flow of aid to the area, which is receiving only a tiny fraction of what experts say is necessary.
After months of backroom work with Israel to increase the flow of food and humanitarian supplies through southern Gaza, the U.S. is “focused on figuring out what we can do to increase the volume and speed at which these trucks arrive.” said White House spokesman John Kirby.
According to UN monitoring, Israel has allowed nearly 8,500 trucks to enter Gaza through its two southern border crossings in the last 85 days – an average of 100 trucks per day. Aid groups say at least 500 trucks are needed per day. “Everyone understands the need for inspections, but things like antibiotics or tent poles or sleeping bags with zippers cause delays and denials, and then entire trucks — not just the items in question — are turned away,” said Tom Hart, the CEO of the humanitarian group InterAction.
“We need approval and inspection processes to make aid faster, more efficient and more predictable,” said Ricardo Pires, communications manager at Unicef.
The Biden administration acknowledged its pressure on Israel for what has entered Gaza so far. “Despite the fact that what is coming in is not enough to meet current needs, it is primarily the United States that has gotten anything in at all,” said State Department spokesman Matt Miller.
Some aid organizations see it differently. “We know they are doing a lot behind the scenes, but right now we are not seeing results from their actions in accessing and distributing assistance locally,” Hart said.
David Satterfield, the retired ambassador who works as the State Department's humanitarian envoy focusing on Gaza, has been criticized for his effectiveness in that role. He accompanied Blinken on part of his recent trip to Israel, although Satterfield had previously been on vacation and working remotely over the holidays in Hawaii, where he owns real estate. “This was a long-planned holiday that was coordinated and he immediately returned to Israel afterwards,” a Foreign Office spokesman told the Guardian.
“People in Gaza are at risk of dying of hunger just miles from trucks full of food,” WFP executive director Cindy McCain said in a statement. “Every hour lost puts countless lives at risk. We can keep famine at bay, but only if we supply enough supplies and have safe access to everyone in need, wherever they are.”
Some lawmakers have called on the Biden administration to do more, although a Senate vote that would require additional protections for aid to Israel received just 11 votes Tuesday night, far short of the simple majority needed in the 100th Congress -member chamber would be required for adoption.
Senator Chris Van Hollen voted in favor of the resolution introduced by Bernie Sanders after he visited the Rafah crossing on the border with Egypt earlier this month. Van Hollen described the Israeli government's delays in inspecting trucks as “purely arbitrary” in an interview with The New Yorker.
An Israeli military spokesman recently flatly denied that there is hunger in Gaza, although Human Rights Watch said last month that “the Israeli government uses starvation of civilians as a method of warfare.”
Without a ceasefire, it is not clear whether a large influx of humanitarian aid could even be distributed effectively. It's not just about entering the Gaza Strip, but also about security and logistics on site. Power and communications outages as well as Israeli bombings make distribution dangerous and sometimes impossible. It is likely that the heads of the World Food Program and Unicef, both appointed to these roles by Joe Biden, called for a ceasefire for these reasons.
But experts say the U.S. is focused more on the humanitarian crisis than on the underlying political and military roots of the conflict. “They are in the dark on issues of humanitarian access, which is still uncomfortable for the Israelis, but is far better than issues of ceasefire and future political agreements, and it allows Israel to punish the US in every detail,” Daniel Levy , President of the US/Middle East Project, says.
Tania Hary, executive director of the Israeli nonprofit Gisha, which focuses on freedom of movement and access for Palestinians, says Israel is facing greater pressure to allow more goods into the Gaza Strip, due in part to the fall of South Africa before International Court of Justice in The Hague. But she added: “I don't think they're doing enough or moving fast enough, and they're not even skimming the surface of their obligations to the people of Gaza.”
The U.S. has found some creative ways in its humanitarian efforts, including reopening Israel by reopening the Kerem Shalom crossing on Israel's southern border with the Gaza Strip in mid-December. But in Hary's opinion, these measures are still completely inadequate. “Without a ceasefire, we will never see these needs addressed, and of course the US is not asking for that. “Whatever it tries to do to access aid will be undermined by supporting the continued military operation,” she said .
Kirby, the White House spokesman, acknowledged that “the fighting itself” was “a major obstacle” to moving more humanitarian supplies to Gaza.
Although the U.S. Senate failed to pass the measure based on the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to condition military aid to Israel, advocates say the U.S. has other tools available to it within the law. For example, it contains a clause that prohibits security assistance if the recipient country “directly or indirectly prohibits or otherwise restricts the transportation or delivery of United States humanitarian assistance,” a point that a consortium of NGOs recently highlighted in a letter to the U.S. Secretary of Defense.
“Israel, as an occupying power and party to the hostilities, has a duty not only to facilitate the import of goods, but even to deliver them,” says Hary. “And almost no one talks about Israel providing the food that Gaza needs, but that is its obligation.”
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