All news
Bread left for a week: humanitarian crisis in northern Gaza
Israel has launched a new offensive in northern Gaza, the most populous area of the Gaza Strip before the war. Much of the northern population has been forced to flee their homes. But humanitarian groups estimate that more than 400,000 people are still seeking refuge here, where food shortages are severe.
Antoine Renard, director general of the World Food Programme in the Palestinian territories, warned that unless Israel immediately increases humanitarian aid, the organisation will run out of food for hundreds of thousands of people within a week. And half of it. He told the Financial Times:
Since September 30, the UN has been "not allowed to provide aid, including food" to northern Gaza, according to Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN refugee agency for Palestine refugees.
US officials warned Israel this week that unless it takes steps to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza within the next 30 days, the Jewish state could lose US military support. That includes sending 350 trucks a day of food and other aid to Gaza.
However, according to the WFP, the current food stocks will not last even a month. Unless aid deliveries are increased, residents of the northern Gaza Strip will not be able to get a hot meal for a week and a half or bread for a week.
Israel denies restricting humanitarian aid to Gaza. On Wednesday, Israel's agency responsible for foreign aid and commercial shipments said 50 trucks of food, water and medicine had been transported from Jordan to northern Gaza. But Renard said the amount received was insufficient and that WFP had received only 12 trucks of flour on Wednesday. That's enough to supply only a fraction of the people still hiding in the rubble.
The Financial Times has previously warned, citing Israeli human rights groups, that Israel is quietly pushing a controversial so-called "Master Plan" to topple Hamas and force the release of the remaining Israeli hostages. The plan was devised and proposed by a group of former Israeli generals and would order civilians to leave the northern part of the territory and then completely encircle anyone who remains. Those who remain would then be considered combatants and deprived of aid, food, water and medicine. One of the plan's authors, former Israeli national security adviser Giora Eiland, said she proposed the proposal because a year of fighting had prevented Hamas from freeing the hostages it held in the Gaza Strip. Many are presumed dead.
Human rights groups say many civilians will be unable to leave North Korea, but even if they do, there is no safe haven in Gaza. Treating those remaining in the north as combatants simply for being there and ordering them to evacuate indefinitely is a clear violation of international law, says Tania Hari, director of the Israeli organization Gisha. “Those who cannot leave, like all those who choose to stay, do not lose their status as non-combatants. They remain civilians. And Israel is obligated to protect them and uphold international humanitarian law,” says Hari.
Israel's UN Ambassador Danny Danon said his country's humanitarian efforts were "more comprehensive than ever" and criticized those who spoke of the humanitarian situation in Gaza while Israeli citizens were "under attack every day." He said Israel had delivered more than 1 million tons of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, including 700,000 tons of food.
According to Reuters, international humanitarian aid organised by the United Nations remains the main source of food for Gazans who cannot afford to buy food in local markets. Statistics show that the total volume of supplies into Gaza, including humanitarian aid and commercial goods, has fallen from 175 trucks arriving daily from May to September to an average of 29 trucks per day in October. Before the war, about 500 trucks carrying humanitarian aid, food, construction materials and agricultural produce entered the Gaza Strip every day.