How does humanitarian aid reach the Gaza Strip?

episode. The vast majority of humanitarian aid directed to the Gaza Strip arrives via Egypt and is subject to careful review by the Israeli authorities before entering the southern Palestinian territories.

Because the international community considers the aid entering in this way insufficient, it seeks to diversify entry routes through air strikes or a sea corridor from Cyprus. Israel is also allowing six trucks into northern Gaza as part of a “pilot project.”

Entry through Egypt and inspection

Aid generally arrives in Egypt through the ports of Port Said or Al-Arish. The latter, much smaller than Port Said, is closest to the Gaza Strip but is flooding quickly, according to NGOs, due to the quantities entering.

All this aid is reviewed by the Israeli authorities, who have strictly controlled everything entering the area since the beginning of the war between Israel and Hamas.

The main checkpoint is located in the Kerem Shalom area in the southeastern corner of the Palestinian Strip. There is another checkpoint in Nitzana, an Israeli town located about 50 kilometers east of Kerem Shalom.

Entry into the southern Gaza Strip

Before being inspected, the trucks, which mostly enter through the Rafah crossing on the Egypt-Gaza border, wait days in a transit area whose capacity, of about 50 places, NGOs consider insufficient.

Products allowed to enter after inspection are unloaded from trucks between Egypt and Gaza, and then loaded onto other vehicles driven by Palestinians working for non-governmental organizations with the aim of distributing aid in the Strip.

According to NGOs, strict restrictions imposed by Israel are the main reason for the slow transfer of aid. While the Israeli authorities point out the inability of humanitarian organizations to deal with all aid in Gaza.

Little help for the North

Except for Rafah and Kerem Shalom in the south, no other crossings are open.

International organizations and the United States are putting pressure on Israel to open the crossings to this part of the Palestinian territories, where the humanitarian crisis is most severe.

Israel announced Tuesday night into Wednesday that six aid trucks belonging to the United Nations World Food Program entered directly into the north “through Gate No. 96 of the security barrier,” which is a “pilot project” for the army.

Transporting aid from southern to northern Gaza is extremely complicated due to the prevailing destruction and fighting. Last week, the PAM announced that one of its convoys had been blocked by Israeli authorities before it could pass north, and after its return it was looted by a “desperate mob.”

Air and sea

Due to insufficient aid, several countries (the United States, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, France, Belgium, etc.) are carrying out air drops, especially in the north.

Small quantities, random nature, risk of aircraft being dropped from the air on densely populated areas: these initiatives are not considered sufficiently satisfactory by international organizations and the residents of Gaza.

For its part, Morocco indicated, on Tuesday, that a load of 40 tons of aid had landed at Tel Aviv Airport to be transported by land via Israel to Kerem Shalom.

The opening of a sea corridor between Cyprus and Gaza facilitated the departure of the first ship carrying 200 tons of supplies on Tuesday. According to the Spanish non-governmental organization Open Arms that owns this ship, the cargo was examined “comprehensively” by the Israeli authorities in the Cypriot port of Larnaca.

The Cypriot Foreign Minister indicated on Wednesday that another ship loaded with aid is ready to sail, but it is waiting to see how the first transfer will take place.