As international pressure mounts to address the growing problem of hunger in Gaza, Israel said it will try to “flood” the besieged enclave with humanitarian aid from a variety of entry points, said the main military spokesman on Wednesday.
In Gaza, after more than five months of war, aid agencies have warned that the 2.3 million population of the area faces a growing risk of famine unless food supplies are stepped up sharply, and they have blamed Israel for not doing enough to guarantee sufficient aid gets through.
However, Israel said it has placed no limitations on the amount of aid that it will allow into Gaza and blames failures by the aid agencies for delays.
“We are trying to flood the area, to flood it with humanitarian aid,” said military spokesperson, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, reported Reuters.
Trucks full of aid
On Wednesday, the military announced that six aid trucks with supplies from the World Food Organization had entered the northern part of the Gaza Strip. Here the hunger problem has been especially acute.
Deliveries from other entry points, complemented by airdrops and seaborne aid cargoes will follow, said Hagari.
However, Hagari accepted that getting supplies into Gaza was only one part of the problem, and more needed to be done to solve the concern of how to distribute it fairly and efficiently to desperately needy individuals.
At Kerem Shalom, most aid that comes into Gaza is cleared by Israel. The place is a customs station at the border point between Egypt, Israel, and Gaza. The aid was then brought in through the southern city of Rafah, the main passenger crossing point between Egypt and Gaza.