Food aid is piling up in Gaza. This is why it is not reaching the needy: NPR

Kerem Shalom Crossing, Israel-Gaza border – Here a batch of empty flatbed cars rumble through Gaza during the opening of the massive concrete wall marking the border. They land on the Israeli front and forklift drivers load up with watermelons, mangoes, tomatoes and onions, along with tons of sacks of flour. Within half an hour, the vehicles overturn and force the scale back down into Gaza.

This scene plays out more than once day after day in Kerem Shalom, now the main road supplying food and medicine to Gaza. All this work raises hopes that the more than 2 million Palestinians trapped in Gaza will get the assistance they need.

There’s a problem, though: A large portion of this humanitarian aid is being funneled into the Gaza side of the border in exchange for a few miles of travel for people struggling to get there, deep into the tenth year of the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

Israel blamed United Nations companies for collecting this aid and distributing it within Gaza, announcing that they wanted to immediately increase aid distribution.

Food is placed on pallets at the Israeli side of the border crossing with Gaza, which is facing dire humanitarian conditions. Israel says the barrier is on the Gaza side.

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Maya Levin for NPR

“The UN is not increasing its capabilities,” said Israeli Colonel Elad Goren, who is part of the Israeli military department that handles civilian affairs within the Palestinian subjects. “The crossings can carry more goods. We can scan more trucks. We can deliver more aid into Gaza. This is not an obstacle. Israel and security checks are in no way an obstacle to humanitarian aid into Gaza.”

Israel says a large number of vehicles have been landed in the Gaza area, although the aid may take several days or weeks before being distributed to Palestinians.

UN cites multiple limits on handing over aid

On the other hand, the United Nations and aid teams say Israel’s responsibilities do not end at the crossing. They are saying that Israeli military operations throughout Gaza as well as severe gasoline shortages and looting in Gaza by armed Palestinians are weakening their ability to pack this aid from Kerem Shalom.

Some Western aid workers overseeing efforts in Gaza describe that aspect of the crossing as paying homage to the “Mad Max” films.

Muhannad Hadi, who oversees the UN office to coordinate humanitarian affairs in Gaza and the Western Vault, took a rare opportunity to visit the Gaza side and came up with a bleak description of his office.

“Mr. Hadi witnessed the consequences of the disruption to public order and security when entering and exiting the Kerem Shalom crossing,” the United Nations Entertainment Company said in a comment. “He saw groups of people with sticks waiting for trucks to cross from Kerem Shalom into Gaza. All the trucks he passed were badly damaged, with windshields, mirrors and hoods broken.”

A truck loaded with food is moving again towards Gaza on the Israeli side of the border. Food, on the other hand, may lie around for days or perhaps weeks before being delivered. The United Nations and aid teams say they are facing a number of problems including shortages of cars and gasoline due to the war, as well as criminal gangs who are looting supplies.

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It is a chaotic extension of the shape where vehicles have steel grills and monitors to protect their windshields from attacks.

Hadi also visited the nearby town of Khan Yunis, which he described as “largely reduced to sand and debris, with not a single structure untouched.”

“Backup crews are responding, although what they may be able to ship falls far short of desires,” Hadi said in a post on X.

Aid groups cite difficulty coordinating with Israeli military

Other aid workers say Israel is the occupying power in Gaza and is responsible for civilians in the area.

,This is not a logical challenge. It is not physical or topographical. This is primarily a political matter,” said Edward Carins, senior operations manager for Gaza’s Mercy Corps. “If there is a will, it will happen.”

Aid groups say coordinating their movements with Israeli forces inside Gaza remains a complex and time-consuming process, sometimes requiring hours to coordinate safe access to the Gaza side of the Kerem Shalom border . And despite these efforts, Israeli airstrikes have hit aid workers on several occasions.

In addition, Israel has also carried out airstrikes on Palestinian police, including UN warehouses in Gaza. Israel alleges the police are linked to Hamas, the mob that attacked Israel on October 7. However, and due to Palestinian security operations not being used on farms in Gaza, there is no one to escort the aid vehicles.

Some organizations have hired armed men to protect their vehicles in Gaza, however, most, including the Pardon Corps, disagree with doing so.

“There is still a large amount of goods entering this region and a lot of it at gunpoint,” Carins said. “But this kind of ‘Mad Max’ scenario is not something that Mercy Corps or any NGO worth its salt is going to ignore.”

Israel responded by announcing that it had halted military operations in the 7-mile corridor for the day to allow aid to be delivered from the Kerem Shalom crossing to areas where Palestinians are concentrated in large numbers.

A truck from Gaza arrives at the Israeli side of the border to be loaded with food before returning to Gaza. Due to the war, now in its tenth year, the dimension is facing significant shortages of food, medicine and alternative raw materials.

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However, the basic situation is that Palestinian civilians in Gaza are not receiving adequate food and medicine, while fighting continues all around them. Many have been driven from their homes for long periods of time and moved to more than one place, but say there is no shelter anywhere in the area.

Far-right professionals say famine is at risk in Gaza and the entire population is suffering without plenty of food as there are records of families spending two and three days on a single meal.

Palestinian civilians reserve relocation in search of safety

Just two months earlier, more than 1 million Palestinians were packed into the southern Gaza city of Rafah, many in tent camps set up in the sandy landscape. For most of that day, the main crossing point was the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.

Palestinians and aid groups say Israeli sanctions have made it impossible to get abundant aid into Gaza throughout the conflict. But if aid comes to Rafah from neighboring Egypt, it may be distributed quite briefly.

On the other hand, Israel’s offensive on Rafah in early May left large parts of the city deserted. The UN estimates it is now reduced to about 50,000 civilians – meaning more than 90 percent of Palestinians have fled within two months.

Additionally, the Rafah crossing has been close since the Israeli invasion. Within reach is Kerem Shalom, the main crossing point to the south, but the upcoming Palestinian public facilities are a few miles away.

Pardon Corps said it has not received a single supply of aid in more than two months, with the same being true for other groups. Amnesty Corps was distributing food, hygiene kits and tarpaulins and tape to develop tents.

An Israeli border security guard monitors the entry of vehicles from Gaza into the Gaza side of the Kerem Shalom border crossing. The vehicles are loaded and later driven back to Gaza.

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“The situation in Gaza has become more desperate, which means crime has increased,” said Pardon Corps’ Carins. “The fuel is not coming. Because the fuel is not coming, fuel prices go up, and so our ability to contract (drivers) to take (aid) to Gaza is also reduced.”

Kerem Shalom is certainly one of the many playgrounds where aid is arriving in Gaza.

However, the US is ready to close one type of route – the ferries that the US military built to bring backup across the sea – that have never provided truly widespread aid.

Israel says three backup land border crossings have been operating recently, even though they are receiving far less assistance than Kerem Shalom. The United Nations says Gaza wants backup trucks of about 500 a day to meet the unmet needs of Palestinians in Gaza.

Israeli crossings can take care of that collection of vehicles on a day-to-day basis, says Israeli official Colonel Goren. However he said that in recent weeks, only a fraction are entering Gaza. Furthermore, most of the vehicles arriving in Gaza are loaded with industrial goods and are available at prices that Palestinians may not have enough money for.

Greg Myre reported from Kerem Shalom and Aya Batrawi reported from Doha, Qatar.