Thousands of aid vehicles must reach Gaza weekly to ease crisis, UN's humanitarian relief chief says

The United Nations improver ease chief is urging state of israel to open up all entrances to Gaza to grant a surge of aid into the territory. 

“It was quite an emotional visit for me,” he said. 

“Because for months and months, our supplies have been piling up. And we’ve been desperate to get them moving, desperate to see those lorries heading into Gaza.”

Humanitarian aid has begun flowing but Fletcher says it needs to scaled up dramatically with "thousands of trucks a week” carrying food, medicine and other supplies into the territory. 

Fletcher says shipments of aid have been moving into Gaza via two crossings in Israel, at Kerem Shalom and Kissufim. But he says other crossings, including Rafah, need to be opened to ensure civilians get the help they need. 

“We want to see Rafah opened. We want to see all the crossings opened. You know, aid can never be a bargaining chip. That’s not just me saying that. That’s the rules. That’s the law,” Fletcher said. 

Israel has said it is preparing to open Rafah but, so far, only for the movement of people. In a statement, the Israeli government said the date for allowing people to cross at Rafah "will be announced at a later stage.”

The statement went on to say humanitarian aid will not be allowed through Rafah. "This was never agreed upon at any stage.”

Despite agreeing to a ceasefire with Hamas after a bloody two-year war — brought on by the Hamas attack against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 — Israel remains deeply distrustful of its sworn enemy. Some 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage in the attack, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel has accused Hamas of violating the terms of the ceasefire with its failure to hand over the remains of all deceased Israeli hostages who were seizedin the 2023 attack. 

Even with such deep-seated differences, Fletcher says he remained optimistic.

“I hope we will get better news from the Israelis in the coming days on the Rafah Crossing,” he said. 

Why isn’t aid flooding into Gaza after ceasefire deal?

“Many of the obstacles are also logistics, they’re about security. So there’s a mixture of politics, technical reasons… but we feel that things are moving in a more positive direction.”

Samer Abdeljaber,  regional director for the World Food Program in Cairo, accompanied Fletcher on his trip to Rafah on Thursday. He too wants to see more crossings opened but says there is more work to do. 

“We are all advocating for opening the crossings, facilitating our access inside Gaza, making sure there is law and order so people can also move freely inside the Gaza Strip and be able to reach the distribution points and make sure that they are able to feel safe while moving around.” 

Aid trucks rolled into Gaza on Wednesday, but medical care remains scarce and most of its 2.2 million people are homeless. Ismail Al-Thawabta, head of the Hamas-run Gaza media office, says the aid that had entered since the fighting subsided was a "drop in the ocean."

Much of the heavily urbanized enclave has been rendered a wasteland by Israeli bombardments and airstrikes that have killed nearly 68,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities.

Groups inside Gaza say they are encouraged to see aid finally arriving but agree the pace of operations must be increased. 

“The needs of children have changed since a ceasefire,” said Rachael Cummings, humanitarian director for Save the Children in Gaza. 

“We’re still seeing malnourished children in the clinic, children with diarrhea, pneumonia, with skin infections.”

“What we need to be able to support children, to alleviate the suffering, is the humanitarian supplies. And the way to do that the most efficiently is to open all land crossings into Gaza,” she said, via video from Deir al Balah in central Gaza

Cummings says, after two years of war, the people of Gaza are exhausted. 

“It’s absolutely extraordinary the level of destruction, not only of the buildings but also of the roads, the water, the sanitation, the water, the infrastructure… and it’s going to take a very long time for that rebuilding and the reconstruction of Gaza to start.”

Senior Reporter

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