Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has allowed a “basic amount of food” to enter the enclave to prevent a “starvation crisis” following pressure from allies over the total blockade that was imposed on 2 March.
But UN officials say that while a limited number of aid trucks have been given permission to enter, they remain stuck at the Kerem Shalom checkpoint between southern Israel and Gaza, and as of Wednesday afternoon, are yet to reach the famine-threatened population.
Most of the aid packages for Gaza are assembled in Egypt by UN agencies such as the World Food Programme, the children’s agency UNICEF, and the Palestinian refugees’ agency UNRWA, which are funded by donor countries including the UK, EU, and the US.
“We lost the whole system,” says Louise Wateridge, senior emergency officer at UNRWA, who has worked in and around Gaza during the war. “We lost our warehouses, all the logistics that we had down there were destroyed.”
Israeli right wing activists campaign against aid being allowed into Gaza at the Kerem Shalom crossing (Photo: Amir Cohen/Reuters)
Rejections and delays
Humanitarian networks then face difficulties passing Israeli security to enter Gaza. Trucks must unload their cargo for it to be subjected to inspections that can take hours or days and result in permission being denied for seemingly innocuous items, aid workers say.
A CNN investigation found items including anaesthetics, oxygen cylinders, walter filtration systems, dates, sleeping bags, and maternity kits were among the items that were not allowed into Gaza. Israel said that some items were rejected as “dual use” for having potential military applications.
If and when a cargo has cleared inspections, humanitarians must coordinate with the Israeli military on when they can collect the aid and bring it to distribution centres. If there are military operations in the area, aid workers will face further delays.
UN agencies and NGOs coordinate their movements with the Israeli military and use a deconfliction channel to safeguard their facilities and transport routes. But UN warehouses have been repeatedly bombed by the Israel Defence Force (IDF), and humanitarian workers killed on routes that the army had approved.
“In recent months, there have been (Israeli) strikes on aid guest houses, which should be deconflicted venues. They knew that we were there and its a UN location. It is clear that the deconfliction system is not being respected because these attacks on humanitarians continue.”
Aid workers also report severe and unpredictable restrictions on their movement.
In some cases, colleagues sought Israeli permission to access sites in the aftermath of bombings to try to save survivors, but were only granted permission when it was too late, she added.
World Central Kitchen vehicle struck by the IDF in April 2024 (Photo: Abdel Kareem Hana/AP)Mad Max territory
The group’s deputy director, Scott Anderson, said last year that a three-kilometre stretch of road near the crossing had become “Mad Max territory” with drivers set upon by groups of criminals aiming to seize their valuable cargo.
“There was an uptick of looting. It directly coincides with the amount of supplies coming in,” she said. “During the ceasefire (when more aid could enter), incidents of looting dwindled.
Israel says it has restricted aid because a significant proportion is being stolen by Hamas, but the UN denies this, and Israel has not published evidence in support of its claims.
“We have had horrendous situations where people are so hungry and desperate…I remember there was a woman crushed to death outside a bakery waiting for a piece of bread because supplies are so low and everybody panicked. Everybody is terrified for themselves and for their families.
Palestinians gather to receive a hot meal at a food distribution point in the Nuseirat camp for refugees in the central Gaza Strip on 21 May, 2025. (Photo: Eyad Baba/AFP/Getty)
The resumption of aid will come too late for some but humanitarian networks have the means and the plans to limit harm if they are allowed to, says Ingram.
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Read More“Another example is with humanitarian cash assistance to the most vulnerable families. They might be families that have children with disabilities or multiple pregnant and breastfeeding women within the family. Those families we are aware of, and they’re our priority for getting assistance to,” Ingram added.
Supplies are ready to go at scale, says Wateridge. “I have been in warehouses over the last couple of days that are full of enough supplies to feed 200,000 people for a month, and that is just UNRWA, you have the whole UN and all the NGOs with supplies sitting and waiting.
“If all of these supplies are allowed in it will diffuse the situation massively.”
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