• Israel has now facilitated half a million tons of aid into Gaza since the start of the war.
  • New aerial footage shows thousands of pallets of aid delivered by Israel inside Gaza still waiting to be used by the UN.
  • White House now admits aid problem is not Israel’s fault.

 

Let’s talk about aid to Gaza.

Israel’s provision of aid to Gaza has been under the spotlight since the start of the Israel-Hamas war. We hear repeatedly from Western governments that Israel needs to facilitate aid to the people of Gaza. The fact is that they are. And they are doing so on a huge scale.

Between the start of the war and June 2024, there were 35,851* humanitarian aid trucks facilitated by Israel that crossed into Gaza. To put that into perspective, if you park them end to end, that would be 509.5 miles in length – a queue longer than the distance between Plymouth and Glasgow (dread the thought).

Now let’s explore what is on the trucks. 23,472 trucks (508,645 tons) contained food. 1,947 carried water. 4,772 caried shelter equipment, and 2,079 (24,440 tons) provided medical supplies. Another 1,930 trucks had mixed goods and there were 375 tanks of fuel and 909 tanks with cooking gas. These figures are increasing daily.

All of these trucks were facilitated by Israel through its border entry points with Gaza, despite all the critics portraying ‘mean’ Israel as starving the Palestinians. Meanwhile, 135 trucks were facilitated via the US-built pier – the one President Biden paid $320 million (£255 million) to ‘save’ the Palestinians, before it started drifting out to sea after a storm.

Aid is also provided by the air. To date, 9,546 pallets of humanitarian aid have been airdropped by Israel over Gaza in 118 airdrop operations. Many of these pallets include individual meals.

Aid comes in other forms. Israel facilitated the creation of six bakeries in northern Gaza. Together, these bakeries produce 1.5 million pita breads daily.

At the time of writing, there appears to be a problem in the aid being collected once it has crossed into Gaza. The contents of 1,000 aid trucks are currently waiting to be fetched by the United Nations, a claim backed up by aerial photos showing tons of aid containers. Further to this, Israel has accused the UN of only reporting the aid that they collect from specific crossings, aid originating from UN sources, and a partial count from non-UN sources. Whereas Israel’s agency that deals with the border logistics, COGAT, counts all aid transferred to Gaza from all routes, origins and entry points. The most severe discrepancy came in May, when the UN reported less than a quarter of the aid that was actually provided.

Israel has gone above and beyond to try and help the UN aid collection process. It has established and expanded a new aid route; it has ensured the UN aid trucks have sectional priority at crossings and aid pickup, and it is actively and constantly exploring new aid delivery routes. Israel has also approved and facilitated the purchase of aid trucks to bolster UN capabilities, but so far only 23 trucks were transferred by the UN despite 124 being approved. Israel agreed to replenish fuel supplies as needed for the UN and essential operations of water and sanitation systems. When reserves are depleted, Israel facilitates the delivery of additional fuel. However, in May, the UN failed to coordinate a collection of fuel on 14 separate days, much to Israel’s frustration, yet spread a lie that made global headlines that Israel wasn’t transferring fuel.

Israel says there is no limit to the aid that it can facilitate into Gaza. Yet, it does so at significant risk. There have been a number of occasions this year that Israel has had to temporarily close certain border crossings after coming under Hamas rocket fire. But these pauses were lifted after a few days.

Make no mistake, Israel cares more about aid for the Palestinians that Hamas does. Israel is not withholding bread from the people of Gaza, unlike Hamas terrorists, who have been seen stealing food from those who desperately need. And Israel does this despite over 100 of its own people still being held captive.

The next time you hear Israel blamed for the “starvation” of Palestinians, remember these statistics, but more importantly, remember Israel’s heart.

*Figures reported by COGAT (Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories) on 19 June 2024.

 

 

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