20 truckloads of humanitarian aid enter Gaza, but hundreds are needed daily
U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator Martin Griffiths welcomed the entry of an aid convoy into Gaza on Saturday, the first since hostilities began two weeks ago following deadly Hamas attacks on Israel.
The convoy of 20 trucks that crossed the Rafah border crossing with Egypt included vital supplies provided by the Egyptian Red Crescent and the UN.
"I am confident that this delivery is the beginning of a sustainable effort to provide essential supplies - including food, water, medicine and fuel - to the people of Gaza in a safe, reliable, unconditional and unimpeded manner," Griffiths said in a statement posted on his official X account, formerly Twitter.
Catastrophic humanitarian situation
Saturday's handover follows days of deep and intense negotiations with all parties involved to ensure that the aid operation resumes as soon as possible and with the right conditions.
The Rafah border crossing is the only one open with Gaza, and hundreds of trucks have been waiting there to bring food, water, medicine and other essential items into the enclave, where supplies are running low.
Griffiths said the already precarious humanitarian situation in Gaza "has reached catastrophic levels" since hostilities began, and that it is critical that aid reaches people in need wherever they are in Gaza, and on the right scale.
"The people of Gaza have endured decades of suffering. The international community cannot continue to fail them," he said.
UN/Eskinder Debebe
A "lifeline" in the midst of shortages.
The director general of the World Health Organization (WHO) also announced that medical supplies from the agency had crossed the border "but the needs are much greater."
In a release on X, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stressed the need for safe passage of the additional convoys, protection of all humanitarian workers and sustained access for health aid.
In a statement, that UN agency said Gaza's hospitals are already stretched to the limit due to shortages and stock-outs of medicines and medical supplies, which are a "lifeline" for people injured or struggling with chronic and other illnesses.
Food on the move
The World Food Program (WFP) stated that three trucks carrying 60 metric tons of emergency food were traveling in the convoy. The supplies included canned tuna, wheat flour, pasta, canned beans and canned tomato paste.
"This food is desperately needed, as conditions inside Gaza are truly catastrophic," said WFP Executive Director Cindy McCain. Stressing the need for continued and secure access, she said the 20 trucks were "an important first step, but this convoy has to be the first of many."
WFP has another 930 metric tons of emergency food at or near the Rafah border, ready to go as soon as access is allowed again. These stocks are needed to replenish the agency's rapidly dwindling supplies inside Gaza.
Since the beginning of the crisis, WFP has provided assistance to some 520,000 people and is expanding its operations to help 1.1 million over the next two months. This assistance includes the daily delivery of fresh bread to people clustered in UN shelters in areas where access is allowed.
A matter of life and death
WFP supplies flour to contracted bakeries, which produce bread for distribution. However, a lack of electricity and fuel has forced many bakeries to stop working, with one even suffering an attack on Wednesday.
The convoy also contained more than 44,000 bottles of drinking water, which is only enough for 22,000 people for a day, according to the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF).
"With one million children in Gaza now facing a critical humanitarian and protection crisis, water supply is a matter of life and death. Every minute counts," said Catherine Russell, the agency's executive director.
The shipment represents a drop in the bucket of the immense needs in Gaza, where much of the critical infrastructure, including water and sanitation systems, has been reduced to rubble.
UNICEF noted that water supply capacity is at 5 percent of normal levels, with Gaza's nearly 2.3 million people currently surviving on three liters of water per person per day.
Protecting all children
Around one million people have been displaced, about half of whom are children, many of whom are now in overcrowded shelters where limited access to water, sanitation and hygiene put the lives of young children at risk from disease outbreaks.
Russell advocated for the need to protect children and for humanitarian workers to have safe access to reach them and their families.
"Above all, all parties must unconditionally protect all children from harm and provide them with the special protection to which they are entitled, in accordance with their obligations under international humanitarian law," he said.