Food aid is piling up inside Gaza. Here’s why it’s not reaching those in need

More than a dozen empty flatbed trucks from Gaza rumble through the opening in the massive concrete wall that marks the border here. They park on the Israeli side and forklift drivers jump into action, loading huge sacks of flour, along with boxes of watermelons, mangoes, tomatoes and onions. Within 30 minutes, the trucks turn around and drive the short distance back into Gaza.

This scene plays out multiple times daily at Kerem Shalom, now the main artery supplying Gaza with food and medicine. All this activity raises hope that needed aid will reach the more than 2 million Palestinians trapped inside Gaza.

But here's the catch: Much of this humanitarian aid is piling up on the Gaza side of the border instead of traveling the last few miles to those suffering in the 10th month of the war between Israel and Hamas.

Israel blames the United Nations agencies responsible for collecting this aid and distributing it inside Gaza, saying they need to urgently step up aid deliveries.

"The U.N. is not increasing its capabilities," said Israeli Col. Elad Goren, who's part of the Israeli military branch that deals with civilian affairs in the Palestinian areas. "The crossings can move more goods. We can scan more trucks. We can move more aid into Gaza. This is not the bottleneck. Israel and the security screenings are in no way the obstacle of humanitarian aid entering Gaza."

Israel says hundreds of trucks have been unloaded on the Gaza side, but the aid can sit for days or even weeks before it is distributed to Palestinians.

U.N. cites multiple barriers to delivering aid

However, the U.N. and aid groups say Israel’s responsibility doesn’t end at the crossing. They say the ongoing Israeli military operations across Gaza, along with severe shortages of fuel, and looting in Gaza by armed Palestinians are crippling their ability to collect this aid from Kerem Shalom.

Some Western aid workers overseeing efforts in Gaza describe that side of the crossing as reminiscent of the "Mad Max" movies.

Muhannad Hadi, who oversees the U.N.'s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Gaza and the West Bank, visited the Gaza side of the crossing last week and his office put out a bleak description.

"Mr. Hadi witnessed the consequences of the breakdown in public order and safety as he entered and exited the Kerem Shalom crossing," the U.N. relief agency said in a statement. "He saw groups of men with sticks waiting for trucks to leave the Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza. All trucks he passed were badly damaged, with broken windshields, mirrors and hoods."

It’s a lawless stretch of territory where trucks have metal grilles and screens to protect their windshields from attacks.

Hadi also visited the nearby city of Khan Younis, described as being "largely reduced to sand and rubble, without a single structure left untouched."

"Aid workers are responding but what they can deliver falls far short of the needs," Hadi said in a post on X. "More funding is urgently needed — as is a safe, enabling environment inside Gaza."

Aid groups cite difficulty in coordinating with Israeli military

Other aid workers say Israel is the occupying power in Gaza and bears responsibility for the civilians in the territory.

"This is not a logistical challenge. It's not a physical or topographical one. It's primarily a political one," said Edward Carins, Mercy Corps senior operations manager for Gaza. "If there's a will, it will happen."

Aid groups say coordinating their movements with the Israeli military inside Gaza remains a complicated 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 multiple occasions.

In addition, Israel has also hit Palestinian police in airstrikes, including at U.N. warehouses in Gaza. Israel alleges the police are linked to Hamas, the group that carried out the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel. But without a Palestinian security force on the ground in Gaza, there's no one to protect the aid trucks.

Some organizations have hired armed men in Gaza to protect their trucks, but most, including Mercy Corps, refuse to do this.

“There is still a trickle of goods that are entering through this area, and a lot of it is at the point of a gun,” Carins said. “But this kind of 'Mad Max' scenario is not something that the Mercy Corps or any NGO worth its salt is condoning.”

Israel counters by saying that for the past month it has paused military operations along a 7-mile corridor during daylight hours to allow aid to move from the Kerem Shalom crossing to areas where Palestinians are concentrated in large numbers.

Still, the bottom line is that Palestinian civilians in Gaza are not getting enough food and medicine, while the fighting rages on around them. Many have long since been driven from their homes and moved to multiple locations but say nowhere in the territory is safe.

Independent experts say Gaza is at risk of famine and the entire population is struggling without enough food as families report going two and three days on a single meal.

Palestinian civilians keep moving in search of safety

Just two months ago, more than 1 million Palestinians were crammed into the southern Gaza city of Rafah, many in tent camps that were established on the sandy soil. For much of that time, the main crossing point was the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.

Palestinians and aid groups say Israeli restrictions have made it impossible to get enough aid into Gaza throughout the war. But when aid did come into Rafah from neighboring Egypt, it could be distributed relatively quickly.

However, Israel's invasion of Rafah in early May has largely emptied the city. The U.N. estimates it is now down to about 50,000 residents — meaning more than 90 percent of the Palestinians have fled in the past two months.

Also, the Rafah crossing has been shut since Israel invaded. Nearby Kerem Shalom is the main crossing point in the south, but is a few miles from the nearest Palestinian population centers.

Mercy Corps said it hasn't received a single delivery of aid in more than two months, adding that the same is true for other groups as well. Mercy Corps was distributing food, hygiene kits and tarps and tape to build tents.

"The situation in Gaza gets more desperate, which means crime goes up," said Carins of Mercy Corps. "Fuel doesn't get in. Because fuel is not getting in, the prices of fuel increase, and therefore our ability to contract (drivers) in Gaza to pick up (aid) is also diminished."

Kerem Shalom is one of several places where aid is coming into Gaza.

But the U.S. is about to shut one of those routes — the pier the U.S. military built to deliver assistance by sea — which has never provided substantial aid.

Israel says three additional land border crossings are currently operating, though they are receiving much less aid than Kerem Shalom. The U.N. says Gaza needs about 500 truckloads of assistance daily to meet the basic needs of Palestinians in Gaza.

Col. Goren, the Israeli officer, says Israel's crossings can handle that number of trucks daily. But he said that in recent weeks, only about half that number is entering Gaza. In addition, some of the trucks reaching Gaza are loaded with commercial goods and are sold at prices most Palestinians cannot afford.

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

Copyright 2024 NPR