Gaza’s hungry await aid

Crowds of men ran through rubble-strewn Gaza City streets past fires and bullet-riddled cars in hope of reaching a rare aid convoy, risking their lives to get food for starving families as famine looms five months into Israel’s military campaign.

Last week the Palestinian health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Israeli forces killed 118 people trying to get aid from a convoy near Gaza City with survivors saying they were shot at.

The deaths drew a new focus on what has gone wrong with aid in Gaza, where the UN complains of “overwhelming obstacles”, while Israel says it is doing all it can and that the UN is ultimately responsible for delivery.

“Is there a father in the world who can see his children writhing in hunger in front of him and remain silent, even if the price is risking his life?” said Ahmed al-Talbani, looking for the aid in Gaza City, shouting and gesticulating as he spoke in a video obtained by Reuters. “Trucks have crushed people, tanks crushed people, shells rained down on people, machine guns were fired over people’s heads. Does this satisfy anyone,” he said. Despite hunger approaching catastrophic levels in parts of Gaza, and large quantities of aid sitting waiting in warehouses to be delivered, the flow of supplies has slowed to a trickle.

Some convoys have been seized by people seeking food, and any convoys moving into northern Gaza require Israeli coordination for safe conduct through checkpoints and areas with fighting. “All we are asking for is safe passage so that we can deliver aid,” said Jenny Baez, emergency response officer at UNRWA. Before the conflict, Gaza relied on 500 trucks entering daily. The Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA said on Friday that during February an average of nearly 97 trucks were able to enter Gaza each day.

LondonGBDESK//