UPDATE: An initial version of this article put the number of trucks at three. Oxfam has since informed The National that the number is 12 as Israel has since allowed a further nine trucks over the weekend.
JUST 12 trucks distributing food and water have been allowed into northern Gaza by the Israeli military in the last two and a half months, according to Oxfam.
The aid organisation said that 34 trucks of food and water have been given permission to enter the North Gaza governorate since October 6 this year – when Israel escalated its military siege of Jabalia, Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun.
A convoy of 11 trucks was initially held up last month at the holding point by the Israeli military at Jabalia according to Oxfam, where some food was taken by starving civilians.
After the green light to proceed to the destination was received, the trucks were then stopped again at a military checkpoint where soldiers forced the drivers to offload the aid in a militarised zone – which civilians reportedly had no access to.
The following week, the aid organisation said Israel permitted 14 more trucks but due to a delay, only three were able to enter.
On 20 December, Israel finally permitted a further nine UN trucks to deliver food and water to an aid distribution point in Beit Hanoun, where civilians sheltering in schools were able to collect it. People said that they were barely surviving and had so little to eat, they were eating leaves.
Oxfam and other international organisations have hit out at the “deliberate delays” and “systematic obstruction” from Israeli authorities – who they say are ultimately preventing the delivery of lifesaving aid.
Last month the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) warned that there is a strong likelihood that famine is already occurring in the north and the risk of famine persists across the whole of Gaza.
At the beginning of December, humanitarian organisations operating in Gaza were receiving calls from vulnerable people trapped in homes and shelters that had completely run out of food and water.
A man who was forced to evacuate with his family from Al-Maghazi refugee camp in the centre of Gaza said: “Adults tell the kids not to play so they don’t get dizzy. One pack of biscuits is all we have for 15 grandchildren.
"We need shelter but a simple plastic tarpaulin costs $180 and we would need at least five to make a basic tent. There’s no chance of light or power. We’re doing everything we can, but it’s not enough.”
Sally Abi-Khalil, Oxfam’s Middle East and North Africa director said: “The situation in Gaza is apocalyptic and people are trapped, unable to find any kind of safety. The absolute desperation of having no food or shelter for your family in the biting cold of winter. It is abhorrent that despite international law being so publicly violated by Israel and starvation being used relentlessly as a weapon of war, world leaders continue to do nothing.
“Gaza has been widely destroyed and the entire population is suffering. The public sector has collapsed and the humanitarian system is on its knees. We plead with the entire international community – stop this, now.
"You have the diplomatic and economic levers to make Israel stop. Every day that passes without a ceasefire is a death sentence for hundreds more civilians.”
