Tracing the tortuous route that aid trucks take into Gaza
STORY: Destruction, lawlessness and Israeli red tape...
These are some of the obstacles facing truck drivers trying to deliver aid into Gaza.
These food-filled trucks have become the main lifeline for more than 2 million Palestinians living in the war-ravaged enclave.
(Antonio Guterres, U.N. Secretary-General)
“It is absolutely essential to have a massive supply of humanitarian aid now..."
More than five months into Israel’s war with Hamas, a report by a global authority on food security has warned that famine is imminent in parts of Gaza.
More than three-quarters of the population have been forced from their homes and swathes of the territory are in ruins.
To meet its minimum needs, aid agencies and U.N. officials say Gaza currently requires roughly 600 aid trucks a day.
But a review of U.N. and Israeli military data on aid shipment reveal a grim reality.
Since the start of the war, an average of just around 100 trucks have entered Gaza daily.
Reuters set out to trace the tortuous route that aid takes into Gaza in an effort to identify the chokepoints and reasons for supply delays.
One of the drivers we spoke to is Suleiman Al-Jaal.
He says his aid truck can get ransacked by desperate civilians – one of the reasons why he's put up a net and metal barrier on the windscreen.
“As people search for food, we cannot give aid to them because we need to drop it at a distribution center. So, people in tents are forced to hit the trucks, hit the driver or stop him in order to attack and capture the goods and eat it. People have nothing to eat at all, neither do they have a place to stay, or a refuge nor are there bathrooms or water. This is not a life. No matter how much they bring in aid, it’s not enough.”
Galvanized by reports and images of starving children, the international community has been pressuring Israel to facilitate the transfer of more aid into Gaza.
Some officials have accused Israel of blocking humanitarian supplies to Gaza.
(Josep Borrell, EU Foreign Policy Chief)
“Starvation is used as a weapon of war.”
Aid agencies say Israeli red tape is slowing the flow of trucks carrying food supplies.
Before the aid shipments enter Gaza, they have to undergo a series of Israeli checks.
And a shipment approved at one stage of the process can later be rejected, according to aid workers and U.N. officials involved in the aid effort.
Aid that does make it into Gaza can get held up by Israeli army checkpoints.
Israel says its inspections aren't the reason for any backlog.
Government spokesperson Tal Heinrich:
“Israel had facilitated the entry of more than 300,000 tons of food and water and medical supplies into the Gaza Strip. And we try to better the mechanism of aid distribution across the Gaza Strip.”
Israel says the delivery of aid – once inside Gaza – is the responsibility of the U.N. and humanitarian agencies.
Israel has also accused Hamas of stealing aid.
“Whenever there's a backlog of humanitarian aid waiting to be distributed it's on the Gazan side of the border. And we saw that by relying on certain U.N. bodies, so to say, the mechanism hasn't been functioning, hasn't been working as it should because they were reliant on Hamas."
The war was triggered by a Hamas-led attack on communities in southern Israel on October 7 that killed 1,200 people and resulted in more than 250 being taken hostage, according to Israel.
Since then, Israel’s assault on Gaza has killed more than 31,000 people, according to Gaza health authorities.
