U.N.: Flow of aid into Gaza almost entirely dried up

The flow of aid into the Gaza Strip has almost entirely dried up in the past week, according to the United Nations, at a time when humanitarian agencies say the enclave needs a drastic increase in the amount of food, medicine and other goods to tackle a looming famine.

Since the start of the war, most aid for Gaza has entered through two border crossings in the southern end of the territory. Israel shut down one of those, Kerem Shalom, after a Hamas rocket attack nearby killed four Israeli soldiers on May 5. The next day, Israel’s military seized and closed the second, in Rafah, on the Egyptian border, as part of what it called a “limited operation” against Hamas, bringing the flow of aid to a near-total stop.

Six trucks of flour arrived through the Kerem Shalom crossing Saturday, and on Friday, some fuel also came through the same crossing point, according to Juliette Touma, the communications director for UNRWA, the main U.N. agency that aids Palestinians. She said that no other supplies arrived through Kerem Shalom this past week and that the Rafah crossing remained closed.

“That’s all since May 6,” Touma said in a text message. “Basically nothing.”

Only 157,000 liters of fuel entered Gaza on Friday, Touma said. The Israeli agency COGAT put the figure at 200,000 liters. The reason for the discrepancy was not clear.