On Sunday, the Israeli military announced a “tactical pause” in its offensive in the southern Gaza Strip to facilitate the delivery of increased humanitarian aid.
The pause, beginning at 8 a.m. (0500 GMT, 1 a.m. Eastern) in the Rafah area, will last until 7 p.m. (1600 GMT, noon Eastern) daily until further notice.
This measure aims to allow aid trucks to safely reach the Israel-controlled Kerem Shalom crossing, the main entry point for incoming aid, and proceed to the Salah a-Din highway to distribute supplies across Gaza.
The military stated that this pause is being coordinated with the U.N. and international aid agencies. The Kerem Shalom crossing has experienced congestion since Israeli ground troops entered Rafah in early May.
The ongoing military operation by Israel against Hamas has led to a severe humanitarian crisis in Gaza, characterised by pervasive food insecurity and a high risk of famine affecting hundreds of thousands of individuals, according to the United Nations.
In response, the international community has called upon Israel to take more decisive action to mitigate the situation and alleviate the suffering of the affected population.
Starting on May 6 and continuing until June 6, the U.N. received an average of 68 aid trucks per day, as reported by the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
This was a decline from the 168 trucks per day in April and well below the 500 trucks per day that aid organizations say are necessary.
As humanitarian needs in southern Gaza grew, the flow of aid decreased. After the invasion, over 1 million Palestinians, many already displaced, fled Rafah, crowding into other parts of southern and central Gaza.
Most now live in makeshift tent camps, using trenches as latrines, with open sewage in the streets.
According to COGAT, the Israeli military body that oversees aid distribution in Gaza, there are no restrictions on the entry of trucks.
They report that from May 2 to June 13, more than 8,600 trucks, including both aid and commercial deliveries, entered Gaza through all crossings, averaging 201 trucks per day.
However, much of this aid has accumulated at the crossings and has not reached its final destinations.
COGAT spokesman Shimon Freedman attributed the accumulation of cargo on the Gaza side of Kerem Shalom to the U.N., claiming that the agencies face “fundamental logistical problems that they have not fixed,” particularly a shortage of trucks.
The U.N. renounces these claims, citing the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, which often renders it too dangerous for U.N. trucks inside Gaza to travel to Kerem Shalom, located next to Israel’s border.
Additionally, the U.N. points out that the pace of deliveries is slowed because the Israeli military must authorise drivers to travel to the site, a system that Israel says is designed for the drivers’ safety.
Furthermore, due to security issues, aid trucks have sometimes been looted by crowds as they moved along Gaza’s roads.
To simplify the delivery process, the new arrangement will endeavour to provide an 11-hour uninterrupted window each day for trucks to move in and out of the crossing. It remains unclear whether the army will provide security to protect the aid trucks as they travel along the highway.
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