Trucks carrying UN aid as they enter Gaza through the Rafah crossing (Anatolia)

GAZA – After the strategic strike carried out by the Palestinian resistance on October 7, the Israeli occupation government decided to twist the arm of the people of the Gaza Strip by waging a war of starvation against them by depriving them of their basic needs.

On the evening of the first day of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant decided to cut off electricity and water from Gaza and close all crossings between the 1948 territories and the Gaza Strip, the most important of which is the Kerem Shalom crossing, which is the main outlet for the entry of goods.

The siege on the Israeli side of the crossings did not stop, as on October 10, the Egyptian authorities also announced the closure of the Rafah crossing after raids carried out by the occupation aircraft targeting its gates and surroundings.

From the early days of the war, Egypt made it clear that Israel controlled the crossing in practice, with exit and entry operations in agreement with Israel, while cargo inspections were carried out at Israel's Nitzana crossing.

Trucks didn't change anything.

For days, the crossing remained closed amid international reports that confirmed the deteriorating humanitarian situation. On October 20, UN Secretary-General António Guterres visited the Egyptian side of the crossing, from where he called for it to be opened for humanitarian access.

In a report by the international organization at the time, it said that about 3000,<> tons of goods were on the Egyptian side waiting for the decision to allow them to enter the Strip.

Eleven days after its closure, only 11 trucks were allowed into the southern Gaza Strip, described by the UN secretary-general as "the difference between life and death for many people in Gaza." The next day, 20 trucks entered, equivalent to only 14% of the daily average of goods entering the Gaza Strip before the war.

On 24 October, 62 trucks were allowed into the southern Gaza Strip, with the daily average of 500 trucks entering before the war, as confirmed by international reports, and two days later a small team of Red Cross specialists was allowed in addition to 10 trucks.

According to UN reports, on 29 October, 33 trucks entered, but stressed that there is a great need to increase the flow of aid in light of the already deteriorating humanitarian situation, especially fuel needed to operate medical equipment and water and sanitation facilities.

The "increase in aid", as described by international organizations, represented by the entry of 26 trucks on the 30th of the same month, has not changed the bitter humanitarian reality experienced by the Gaza Strip.


November.. Shrouds, wounded and dual nationals

On November 5, the United Nations estimated that 21 trucks had entered the Gaza Strip since Oct. 451.

Official medical institutions in the Gaza Strip revealed that most of the medical aid they received at the time was "shrouds", despite the fact that the medical sector needed fuel, equipment and staff.

On November 6, Egyptian authorities opened the crossing to evacuate foreigners, nationals, and a few others injured, days after 84 injured people were transferred to Egypt for medical care.

The United Nations said in its report on the humanitarian situation on November 7 that "the quantities of humanitarian aid entering from Egypt every day meet only a small amount of people's needs, and that the drinking water brought in quenches the thirst of only 4 percent of Gaza's population, while much-needed fuel is still barred."

On the same day, Egypt reopened the crossing to the evacuation of 600 foreigners and dual nationals, and only 17 wounded, in light of the calls of health institutions in the Gaza Strip at the time to remove the wounded through the crossing, after the occupation forces surrounded hospitals in Gaza and its north.

Commenting on the entry of only 65 trucks through the Rafah crossing into the Gaza Strip on November 9, international institutions stressed that this was "completely insufficient." The Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, said that "hundreds of trucks are urgently needed to enter every day, including fuel," and that "there must be more than one entry point into Gaza."

On November 12, the United Nations said that the number of trucks that have entered Gaza since the crossing was first opened after it was closed in the war reached 981, which international organizations described as "far short of the quantities needed to meet the needs of the two million people trapped in Gaza."

The UN estimated at the time that Egyptian authorities allowed the exit of 131 wounded, out of tens of thousands of wounded, between November 2 and 9.


Trace fuel quantities

On November 15, the occupation authorities allowed the entry of 23,<> liters of fuel through the Rafah crossing, the first such shipment since the beginning of the war, as international reports show.

UNRWA, which is responsible for Palestinian refugee affairs, said it was "forced to stop basic services because it needed about 160,<> liters of fuel per day to conduct basic humanitarian operations."

As of 13 October, the United Nations said that only 21,1 trucks had entered since October 096. On the same day, the Egyptian authorities opened the border for the exit of 600 foreigners and dual nationals and 4 wounded, and the United Nations reports that 135 wounded left the Gaza Strip during this period.

Within three days thereafter, no truck from Egypt entered Gaza, after UNRWA announced that it was "unable to receive and distribute additional loads due to running out of fuel."

The UN reports said the agency's "limited operational capacity was limited to supplies received in previous days."

Between 2 and 17 November, the Egyptian authorities allowed the exit of some 6,500 people of dual nationality and foreigners, while no Palestinians from abroad were allowed to enter Gaza through the crossing, so far, and until then goods continued to pile up at the crossing after UNRWA was unable to enter them due to running out of fuel.

On November 19, the occupation allowed 69,70 liters of fuel to enter Gaza from Egypt, and Israel said at the time that it would allow the entry of a daily amount of about <>,<> liters of fuel through the Rafah crossing, which is "well below the minimum required to conduct basic humanitarian operations," as the United Nations decided in its reports.

On November 20, 40 trucks loaded with medical equipment and 180 doctors and nurses entered through the Rafah crossing, with the aim of establishing a second Jordanian field hospital in Khan Yunis, with a capacity of 150 beds.

Despite the announcement of an increase in the number of trucks entering the Gaza Strip, the United Nations said that the number of trucks reached 1479,10 until last November, compared to a monthly average of nearly 2,20 trucks before the war. Between 9 and 576 November, 425,<> people were travelling with dual nationals and foreigners and <> injured and medical escorts.


What about the truce?

On November 23, the Palestinian resistance announced that a temporary truce agreement had been reached with the occupation with Qatari mediation and US-Egyptian support, including the increase in the number of aid trucks, food and fuel entering the entire Gaza Strip.

The next day, the United Nations announced that 200 trucks had entered through the Rafah crossing, leaving a number of wounded and allowing entry for those stranded outside the Gaza Strip, for the first time since the beginning of the war.

On the second day of the truce, 200 trucks entered the Gaza Strip, in addition to 129,4 liters of fuel, as well as <> tankers loaded with cooking gas, and the occupation remained at that time refusing to allow any other quantities of fuel to enter Gaza and the northern Strip, until the resistance announced the suspension of the delivery of the second batch of Israeli prisoners who were agreed upon within the framework of the understandings of the temporary truce, and then the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the resolution of the problems after contacts and mediation.

On 26 November, the third day of the temporary ceasefire, the Palestinian Red Crescent announced that it had routed 50 trucks of Egyptian aid through the Rafah crossing towards and north of Gaza. He said that this is the second batch of humanitarian aid that he can bring in during this day, and explained that the number of trucks that entered Gaza and the north reached 100.

The next day, the United Nations and the Red Crescent announced the transfer of aid trucks to Gaza and its north, and official institutions in the Gaza Strip confirmed that the arrival did not meet the basic needs of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, whose homes were displaced and their homes destroyed.

On November 28, after the temporary truce was extended, the Red Crescent announced the transfer of 31 truckloads of humanitarian aid to Gaza and the north, and the United Nations did not announce a clear number of trucks entering the Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing.

Various data confirm that the number of trucks that entered the Gaza Strip did not approach the daily needs of Palestinians there, in light of the starvation war they were subjected to throughout the war, after closing the crossings with the occupied territories, bombing bakeries, preventing basic materials, and preventing farmers from accessing their land.

Source : Al Jazeera