Weekly Middle East war megathread - week of November 11

Why is only limited aid getting to Palestinians inside Gaza? (AP)

The United States decided not to punish Israel over the dire humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip after giving it an ultimatum to increase aid entering the territory. But the flow of food, medicine and other supplies to Palestinians is still at nearly its lowest level of the entire 13-month-old war.

The White House last month gave Israel 30 days to improve conditions or risk losing military support. As the deadline expired Tuesday, leading international aid groups said Israel had fallen far short.

But the U.S. State Department announced it would not take any punitive action, saying Israel has made limited progress. However, it called for more steps.

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Israel, which controls all crossings into Gaza, says it is committed to delivering humanitarian assistance and has scrambled to ramp up aid. COGAT, the military body in charge of aid passage, said they had taken a number of steps over the past month to increase the amount entering the territory, including opening a fifth crossing — into central Gaza — this week.

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Aid into Gaza is typically measured in terms of truckloads of food and supplies entering the territory. The U.S. has demanded 350 trucks daily — still below the 500 a day that entered before the war.

In October, aid entry plunged to its lowest level since the first month of the war. Israeli government figures show roughly 57 trucks a day entering on average. The average has risen to 100 a day so far in November, slightly lower than the same month last year.

The U.N., however, says even less is entering. It reports receiving an average of 39 trucks daily since the beginning of October. This is largely because it says it cannot reach the main crossing point in the south to collect cargos due to Israeli military restrictions and lawlessness.

The U.N. says virtually no food or other aid has reached the northernmost part of Gaza since the beginning of October. That’s when the Israeli military launched a major offensive against Hamas fighters in the area of Jabaliya, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun, cutting them off.

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Under international pressure, COGAT allowed two deliveries to the far north this month.

But little of it got through. Last week, the World Food Program said troops on the ground ordered its trucks to unload their cargo before reaching their destination. In another planned shipment on Monday, the WFP could only deliver three out of 14 trucks because of delays in getting movement permits from the troops. When it tried to deliver the rest the next day, it said the military denied permission.

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One reason for the large difference between Israel’s and the U.N.’s count of aid trucks entering Gaza: Hundreds of truckloads are piled up on the Gaza side of the main crossing in the south, uncollected by the U.N. for distribution.

Israel accuses UNRWA, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, of not doing enough to retrieve the cargos.

The U.N. and aid groups say they often cannot reach the crossing because the Israeli military doesn’t always coordinate safe passage amid military operations in the area and widespread lawlessness.

“If we are not provided a safe passage to go and collect it (aid), it’s not possible for us to have it. And it will not reach the people who need it,” said Louise Wateridge, an UNRWA spokesperson.

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Theft is also stymying distribution.

The military and aid agencies both acknowledge that criminal gangs – often based in local families – are robbing trucks.

An Israeli official, speaking on the condition of anonymity under military briefing guidelines, estimated that on some days, up to 30% to 40% of aid supplies are stolen by criminals or Hamas.