The United Nations is concerned about the 2.4 million people, half of whom are children, currently trapped in the Gaza Strip. Israel is denying them access to water, electricity and fuel for the time being.
They are on the brink of a “catastrophe”. The United Nations (UN) is gravely concerned about the fate of some 2.4 million people in the Gaza Strip, half of whom are children, since the blockade imposed by Israel on October 9 in response to the deadly attack on Hamas , live in isolation. Your food reserves will soon be exhausted. For this reason, the humanitarian aid much awaited by this population must intervene “at the earliest” on Saturday, October 21st. “We are in extensive and advanced negotiations with all stakeholders to ensure that a relief operation in Gaza begins as quickly as possible,” Martin Griffiths was quoted as saying on Friday by a spokesman for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs UN (Ocha) in Geneva .
Until then, this assistance was not possible due to diplomatic blockades and significant damage to the roads. It was American President Joe Biden who managed to convince Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to give the green light during his visit to Israel on Wednesday. Franceinfo responds to this humanitarian aid in four questions.
1 What does this humanitarian aid consist of?
It is provided by NGOs and states and essentially consists of the delivery of trucks full of food, medicine, water purifier, hygiene products, blankets, etc. But since the beginning of the conflict, the vehicles and containers have accumulated at Al-Arich Airport, in Egypt’s Sinai, which has even reopened one of its runways to be able to receive everything. “We receive two to three aid planes every day that are chartered by humanitarian organizations or states,” Ahmed Ali, head of the Egyptian Red Crescent, told AFP.
This assistance includes that from the World Food Program (WFP), which transported 951 tons of food to the Egyptian border, according to a program spokesman. He states that this amount is enough to feed 488,000 people for a week. In addition, European countries such as Germany, Ireland and the United Kingdom, as well as Russia, have also announced financial, logistical and medical assistance for Gaza.
2 What needs do the population in the Gaza Strip have?
According to NGOs working in Gaza, the needs are diverse and urgent. Some neighborhoods have been completely destroyed and hundreds of thousands of people have been left without water, food and electricity. Joe Biden said on Wednesday that he had negotiated with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi to “let up to 20 trucks cross.” However, according to the United Nations and the World Health Organization (WHO), this figure is completely inadequate as it does not meet the needs of Gaza’s population, which was already 60% dependent on international food aid before the war. The WHO emergency director described the aid as “a drop in the ocean of need.” “It would take 2,000 trucks,” corrected Michael Ryan.
The situation in the Gaza Strip is “more than catastrophic,” worries Sara Alzawqari, spokeswoman for Unicef. “Time is running out and the number of child victims is increasing,” she added. In Gaza, supplies are now almost empty after 13 days of war, she explains. “We have distributed almost all the aid we had within the Gaza Strip.” “Hospitals have also been provided with equipment and medicine, but given the number of injured there is a shortage of hospital beds and essential medicines,” adds Sara Alzawqari. But “time is of the essence and the number of child victims continues to rise,” she warns, adding that the situation is “getting worse by the minute.”
“We are struggling to operate the only functioning water desalination plant, whose capacity is greatly reduced” due to fuel and electricity shortages after Gaza’s only power plant shut down, she continues. “Fuel is an absolute priority because (…) there is already no more” to power hospital generators as well as desalination stations or bakeries, emphasizes Doctor Richard Peeperkorn, head of the WHO fuel office in the occupied Palestinian territories.
3 How is aid distributed?
It is Egypt that must manage this aid under the supervision of the United Nations, said Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Choukri on Al-Arabiya television, quoted by BFMTV. “It is a huge logistical challenge,” explains Red Cross spokesman Frédéric Joli to Le Figaro. “We must provide emergency humanitarian assistance, deploy it throughout this area despite the poor condition of the roads, identify access points for the population and deploy qualified humanitarian personnel to provide armed assistance in conflict situations.”
However, this assistance is subject to conditions. “Israel will not prevent humanitarian assistance from Egypt as long as it provides food, water and medicine to the civilian population in the southern Gaza Strip,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement.
Israel has also made it clear that this aid will not pass through its territory until the hostages held by Hamas are released. For this reason, transit will take place exclusively through Egypt. But “if Hamas confiscates them or doesn’t let them pass (…), then it’s over,” warned the American president. Joe Biden added that this convoy is just the beginning. “We want to get as many trucks through as possible. I think there are about 150,” he said, specifying that the entry of a second convoy would also depend on what happens next and how the distribution of the first convoy goes.
4 Why does the operation take so long?
Currently, none of the supplies transported to Egypt have been able to reach the Gaza Strip area. Because of the lack of agreement on the dispatch of humanitarian aid between Cairo and Tel Aviv. But also because of the poor condition of the roads. The head of Egyptian diplomacy admits that forwarding aid “requires organization.” Quoted by TF1, Sameh Choukri assures that “the road that allowed the delivery of aid between Gaza and the Rafah crossing was destroyed” after several Israeli bombings on the Palestinian side of the border. In addition, since Israel has closed its border crossings to goods and people, only the Rafah border crossing towards Egypt is open, but this has been the target of Israeli attacks on several occasions since the beginning of the conflict.
The pallets of relief supplies are now stored in warehouses in Al-Arich, the capital of North Sinai, Ahmed Ali of the Egyptian Red Crescent told AFP. And as soon as the green light is given, 250 volunteers are ready to transport them to the border.