Gaza at Last Welcomes More Aid. It Needs a Deluge.
The New York Times
Hundreds of truckloads of food, fuel and other supplies have arrived in Gaza each day since the cease-fire took effect. But the need is vast after 15 months of war.
Outside a warehouse in southern Gaza one day this week, a small crowd of men and boys waited their turn for a bit of the humanitarian aid that Gaza — sick, starving, freezing Gaza — has desperately needed. They walked away with sacks of flour and cardboard boxes of food, many dragging their precious cargo behind them in two-wheeled shopping carts.
It was an orderly sight that had become rare in the territory since the war began more than 15 months ago. Israeli restrictions on aid, a security collapse that allowed widespread looting of aid trucks and other obstacles had combined to limit the food, water, tents, medicine and fuel that reached civilians amid an Israeli siege on the strip.
In the week since a cease-fire agreement stopped the fighting in Gaza, Palestinians in Gaza and aid officials say that more food deliveries and other much-needed items are streaming in. The question now is how to maintain the level of aid they say Gaza needs, despite many logistical challenges and uncertainties over how long the truce will hold.
The United Nations moved as much food into Gaza in three days this week as it did in the entire month of October, the interim head of the U.N. humanitarian office for Gaza, Jonathan Whittall, said in a briefing on Thursday.
Other U.N. agencies and aid groups were distributing medical supplies and fuel to power hospitals and water wells, among other types of assistance, and helping to repair critical infrastructure. Tents were set to enter soon, and bakeries were expected to start supplying bread by Friday, according to the United Nations.
