Thousands of boxes filled with shelter items and food are sitting idle in Jordan, Egypt and Israel, humanitarian agencies say, warning that very little aid is making its way into Gaza nearly four weeks after a ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel began.
As colder weather approaches, hundreds of thousands remain in makeshift worn-out tents, with no appropriate means to shelter from the elements after Israel’s deadly two-year offensive devastated the tiny, crowded enclave.
“We have a very short chance to protect families from the winter rains and cold,” said Angelita Caredda, Middle East and North Africa Regional Director for the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC).
“Gaza should be receiving a surge of shelter materials, but only a fraction of what is needed has entered,” Caredda said in a statement Wednesday, calling for “swift and unimpeded access” into the war-torn territory.
The NRC, which leads a group of agencies working on a lack of shelter in Gaza, said since the ceasefire took effect on Oct. 10, Israeli authorities have rejected 23 requests from nine aid agencies to bring in urgently needed shelter supplies, such as tents, sealing and framing kits, bedding, kitchen sets and blankets.
“No family should face winter out in the open,” Caredda said. “Every day of delay puts lives at risk.”
The NRC added that millions of shelter and non-food items are stuck in bordering countries awaiting approvals, leaving some 1.5 million people, exposed to worsening conditions.
The ceasefire deal, which was intended to allow scores of aid trucks into the enclave and get food to families, came two months after famine was confirmed in Gaza, where almost all the 2.3 million inhabitants have lost their homes to Israeli bombardment.
“It is dire. No proper tents, or proper water, or proper food, or proper money,” Manal Salem, 52, told Reuters. Salem, who lives in a tent in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, said it is “completely worn out” and she fears the tent will not last the winter.
Gaza’s local administration, long controlled by Hamas, says most trucks are still not reaching their destinations due to Israeli restrictions, and only about 145 per day are delivering supplies.
The World Food Program (WFP) says only half the needed amount of food is coming in. But an umbrella group of Palestinian agencies that liaise with the UN says only 25 to 30 per cent of the expected amount of aid had entered so far.
Israel meanwhile says it is fulfilling its obligations under the ceasefire agreement, which calls for an average of 600 trucks of supplies into Gaza per day. It blames Hamas fighters for any food shortages, accusing it of stealing food aid before it can be distributed, which the group denies.
Food, shelter, fuel
The ceasefire and greater flow of aid since mid-October has brought some improvements, said the United Nations humanitarian agency OCHA.
Last week OCHA said a tenth of children screened in Gaza were still acutely malnourished, down from 14 per cent in September, with over 1,000 showing the most severe form of malnutrition.
Half of families in Gaza have reported increased access to food, especially in the south, as more aid and commercial supplies entered after the truce, and households were eating on average two meals a day, up from one in July, OCHA said.
There is still a sharp divide between the south and the north where conditions remain far worse, it said.
Abeer Etefa, senior spokesperson for WFP, described the situation as a “race against time.”
“We need full access. We need everything to be moving fast,” she told Reuters. “The winter months are coming. People are still suffering from hunger, and the needs are overwhelming.”
Little meat, eggs, vegetables
Since the ceasefire, the agency has brought in 20,000 metric tons of food assistance, roughly half the amount needed to meet people’s needs, and has opened 44 out of a targeted 145 distribution sites, she said.
The variety of food needed to ward off malnutrition is also lacking, Etefa added.
“The majority of households that we’ve spoken to are only consuming cereals, pulses, dry food rations, which people cannot survive on for a long time. Meat, eggs, vegetables, fruits are being consumed extremely rarely,” she said.
Palestinians are struggling to receive aid in Gaza even after the first phase of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas takes effect. CBC’s Briar Stewart explains why trucks of aid are still stuck at the enclave’s borders.
A continuing lack of fuel, including cooking gas, is also hampering nutrition efforts, and over 60 per cent of Gazans are cooking using burning waste, said OCHA, adding to health risks.
Fighting broke out in October 2023, following a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel that killed about 1,200 people and saw 250 taken hostage. Israel’s military response in Gaza has killed nearly 69,000 Palestinians, local health authorities say, with some 241 people killed in Israeli fire during the truce, since Oct. 11.
Meanwhile, health officials received the bodies of 15 more Palestinians returned from Israel on Wednesday as exchanges outlined in the strained ceasefire went ahead despite allegations of violations.
So far, Gaza has received a total of 285 bodies held in Israeli custody — a majority of whom have not been identified. Following yesterday’s handover by Hamas, the remains of seven hostages are believed to still be in Gaza, but locating the remaining deceased hostages remains a challenge, as much of Gaza has been destroyed in Israeli strikes.
