Aid entering Gaza has dropped by 67% since Israel's offensive on Rafah began, the UN says
Palestinians wait in line to receive food distributed by charities amid Israeli attacks in Deir al-Bala, Gaza, on May 28. (Credit: Hassan JD/Anatolu/Getty Images)
According to a report by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, aid entering Gaza has dropped by 67% since May 7, the day after Israel launched its assault on Rafah.
“The amount of food and other aid entering Gaza is already insufficient to meet growing needs, with an average of 58 trucks of humanitarian aid arriving in Gaza daily between May 7 and 28, compared to a daily average since May 7. Between April 1 and May 6, 176 aid trucks,” says an OCHA report released this Wednesday.
Since Israel launched its assault on the city on May 6 and captured the crossing Gaza Strip, aid has been blocked and supplies have been piling up in Egypt. Israel and Egypt blame each other for the blockade.
Rafah was formerly the central artery through which aid reached Gaza.
OCHA said humanitarian workers face significant obstacles to working in Gaza, and that the capacity of its nutrition partners to deliver services has been hampered “despite the continued increase in diagnosed cases of malnutrition.”
“85 percent of children did not eat for an entire day in the three days preceding the survey,” the report said.
“Security and severe restrictions on access to border areas and restrictions on movement between southern and northern Gaza create an unsanctioned and unstable operating environment for humanitarian workers, preventing them from providing vital assistance to hundreds of thousands of people across Gaza.
OCHA also noted that on May 27 and 28, no aid entered Gaza via a US-built ship after part of it was damaged by bad weather.
Israel had earlier said it had taken steps to increase humanitarian aid to Gaza following pressure from the United States. But UN officials say progress is slow.
