The United Nations has stated that the recent authorization of a small number of aid trucks into Gaza is woefully insufficient to address the dire humanitarian needs, calling it “a drop in the ocean”.
For the first time in almost three months, a small number of humanitarian aid trucks from the United Nations have entered the Gaza strip, which is currently under siege. Both the Israeli military and the United Nations have confirmed this delivery.
On Monday, Un aid head Tom Fletcher described the nine aid trucks cleared by Israeli authorities to enter Gaza through the Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing as a meager contribution, given the extensive supplies necessary the escalating humanitarian crisis.
The current volume of aid entering Gaza is substantially lower than the average of over 500 truckloads that arrived daily before the conflict began in October 2023. This severe reduction has led food security experts to issue warnings of an impending famine, with some accusing Israel of intentionally using starvation as a tactic of war.
Fletcher’s statement stressed the urgent need for a substantial increase in aid entering Gaza, starting as soon as the next morning.
Stephen Dujarric, the spokesperson for the UN secretary-general, affirmed that while the modest amount of aid entering Gaza would be distributed via UN channels, it remains insufficient.
After a week of intense shelling that caused hundreds of causalities, Israel decided on Sunday to permit a “minimal” amount of aid into Gaza as it launched a stepped-up ground offensive.
On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu revealed in a video that his decision to permit aid into Gaza was a direct result of demands from Israel’s international “allies”.
He explained that these unnamed “greatest friends in the world” communicated that they could not countenance “image of hunger, mass hunger” and would withdraw their support if these conditions weren’t addressed.
