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Convoy in Gaza: Israel has repeatedly made access for humanitarian aid to the region more difficult
Photo: Middle East Images / ABACAPRESS / IMAGO
Another attempt to bring humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip has failed: As the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) explained, the organization's aid convoy of fourteen trucks was initially turned away by the Israeli army - and was then looted by a crowd.
According to the World Food Program, the convoy initially had to stand still for three hours at the Wadi Gaza checkpoint in the southeast of the Palestinian territory and was then redirected.
A “large crowd of desperate people” then stopped the trucks and grabbed around 200 tons.
According to UN estimates, around five months after the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, around 2.2 million people in the Gaza Strip are on the verge of famine - especially in the north of the area, where the Israeli army has not yet granted access for aid.
The WHO recently complained about starving children in the Gaza Strip, and the WFP described the situation as “catastrophic.”
Numerous international politicians have recently criticized Israel for these blockades.
US Vice President Kamala Harris called on the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in an unusually strong manner to ensure humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip.
“The Israeli government must do more to significantly increase the flow of aid,” said Harris.
Israel must not impose “unnecessary restrictions.”
According to the World Food Program, all options are currently being examined to bring food to the northern Gaza Strip.
Road transport was the only way to transport large quantities of food to avert famine.
In a joint operation with Jordan, the US took a different approach on Tuesday: US transport planes dropped more than 36,000 meals over the Gaza Strip, most of them, according to US information, over the north of the region.
spr/AFP