More aid arrives in Gaza as UN warns of distribution problems
Another 107 trucks carrying humanitarian aid have arrived in the Gaza Strip, Israeli authorities said on Friday.
The trucks carrying flour, food, medical equipment and medicine entered the sealed-off strip on Thursday, the Israeli authority for Palestinian affairs, COGAT, said.
On Monday, Israel lifted its blockade on aid deliveries to the Gaza Strip. Prior to this, it had not allowed any deliveries since the beginning of March, accusing the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas of reselling the supplies to finance its fighters and weapons.
The United Nations and aid organizations are warning of famine in Gaza. Aid workers say the quantities that have arrived in Gaza this week are far from sufficient to alleviate the suffering of the population.
They have also described difficulties in distributing the aid.
“Significant challenges in loading and dispatching goods remain due to insecurity, the risk of looting, delays in coordination approvals and inappropriate routes being provided by Israeli forces that are not viable for the movement of cargo,” the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.
The UN says 500 trucks need to enter Gaza daily to feed the some 2 million people in Gaza.
Workers package bread for distribution at the World Food Programme (WFP) bakery after a limited amount of flour entered the Gaza Strip, where border crossings have remained closed since March 2 due to Israeli restrictions on humanitarian aid. Moiz Salhi/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
