Israeli delays mean Gazans getting quarter of required aid
A fraction of the required aid is reaching Gaza through Egypt’s Rafah crossing due to stringent Israeli inspections three months into a war that has killed more than 22,700 Palestinians and left hundreds of thousands facing famine.
About 120 lorries a day out of a required 500 are getting through, said two US senators at the border on Saturday.
They said that warehouses near the crossing points are filled with vital humanitarian aid due to the inspection delays.
Chris Van Hollen and Jeff Merkley found that Israeli inspections of aid lorries relied on a “totally broken” system that involved cargo being rejected based on “vague and arbitrary” findings.
Rejections are based on Israeli fears that aid could be used by Hamas, but the senators said explanations were thin.
“What struck me yesterday was the miles of backed-up trucks. We couldn’t count, but there were hundreds,” Mr Merkley said in Cairo.
The US, which has significantly increased aid to Israel since the start of the conflict, has been pressing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to accelerate deliveries.
Three weeks into the war, launched after a Hamas assault on Israel killed about 1,200 on October 7, US President Joe Biden called Mr Netanyahu and urged Israel to “significantly increase the flow of humanitarian assistance to meet the needs of civilians”.
The UN passed a resolution with US backing last month which, while falling short of calling for a ceasefire, urged a rapid increase in aid deliveries.
Israel opened its Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza, adding a second entry point after Rafah. But the two US senators said less than 25 per cent of the required aid was getting through. Other than the trickle through the two crossing points, Israel has barred the entry of supplies since its assault on Gaza began three months ago, aiming to destroy Hamas.
The result has been a humanitarian catastrophe for the territory’s 2.3 million Palestinians.
Most displaced Gazans, many of whom have fled their homes more than once, live in UN shelters crowded many times
beyond their capacity, in tent camps that have sprung up on the streets.
The few functioning hospitals are overwhelmed with wounded and patients amid outbreaks of disease. Sanitation systems have collapsed.
Mr Van Hollen and Mr Merkley said a more simplified process for getting aid into Gaza is necessary. During a three-day visit to Egypt, they met with Egyptian officials, UN aid agencies and non-governmental relief groups working in Gaza. At Rafah on Friday, they also spoke to doctors who had come out of Gaza and a lorry driver who was waiting to get in.
Lorries carrying aid can wait for weeks at the border for processing, aid officials said.
They enter the Egyptian side of the border, drive along noman’s land to the Israeli facility at Nitzana for inspection by the military, then return to Rafah to cross into Gaza – or go to Kerem Shalom for inspection and entry there. During the process, if inspectors reject a single item in a lorry, it must return with its entire cargo to be repackaged, starting the weeks-long process all over again, said Mr Van Hollen, a Democrat from Maryland.
The reasons for rejection are often “very vague, and they are conveyed informally. Sometimes they were very unreasonable,” said Mr Merkley, a Democrat from Oregon.
The two senators said they had seen a warehouse in Rafah filled with material that had been rejected upon inspection. It included oxygen cylinders, gas-powered generators, tents and medical kits used when delivering babies.
Aid workers told the senators the tents were refused because they included metal poles, and the medical kits because they included scalpels.
Most solar-powered equipment appears to be prohibited – though it is vital in Gaza, where central electricity supplies have collapsed. “The warehouse was a testament to the arbitrariness” of the process, Mr Van Hollen said.
There is a process for pre-approving cargoes, but it can take weeks, they said, and even items that obtained prior approval are sometimes rejected during inspection.
After inspection, the lorries are considered “sanitised” and their drivers are not allowed to interact with anyone.
The senators said they were told one lorry driver was turned back after someone brought him a cup of coffee, breaking the rules of processing.
The process is “completely incompatible” with a humanitarian crisis of this extent, Mr Merkley said.
“There has to be a simplified process” that honours Israel’s concerns over potential military uses of goods but also addresses the scale of the situation”, he said.
The senators, who sit on the Senate foreign affairs committee, said they were recommending changes.