🔗 Share this article

Although the border entry point with Egypt starts functioning this week, aid groups face major challenges distributing supplies to the northern region, the territory hardest impacted by food shortages, specialists report.

Transportation Problems

Key roads are virtually blocked due to massive destruction across the war-torn region – or are still occupied by military units. Any vehicle that breaks down is almost certainly instantly looted.

The primary crossing, the primary access route to the northern territories, damaged by multiple years of conflict, has been closed for multiple weeks, and authorities have informed NGOs in Gaza that there are no current intentions to open the crossing, per reports from humanitarian staff.

Devastation in Northern Gaza

The main city was the objective of a significant armed campaign launched in August that was still under way when the temporary truce was signed a week ago.

Damage in the north has been extensive, with complete communities including urban centers and Beit Hanoun in ruins as well as many of the surrounding regions of Gaza City.

"Any opening of a access route into Gaza is welcome, but we need to guarantee we can access populations where they are," said a senior director from a humanitarian organization.

Aid Circumstances

Local residents said many of the approximately 300,000 people who have come back to the northern region from the densely populated southern area where they had been sheltering during the Israeli offensive were now "staying" among the debris of their homes, often without any protection and with insufficient nutrition or hydration.

A representative from a humanitarian body said the damage in Gaza City was "overwhelming".

"It is block after block, home after home ... there is massive desperation for drinking water. The situation is dire. We require every border point open," the official, who was in Gaza City in recent days, stated.

Restricted Entry

A local director working from the urban center said the necessities in what used to be the area's active economic and community focal point were "immense".

"We see this optimism and faith but there needs to be rapid progress on the crossings. There has been no major improvement on the ground yet," the director said.

"There remains a small quantity of assistance [and] we are only starting to comprehend the degree of destruction. So many streets are overwhelmed by debris ... there is almost no home that is secure. We see destruction and unexploded bombs across the region."

Current Developments

In recent days, aid agencies said small quantities of vital cooking gas reached Gaza for the first instance in many weeks, along with consignments of flour, rice and produce. The new supplies sent prices in markets falling.

In the central town, a community member said there had been some improvement since the truce.

"Commercial areas are stocked with food, produce, and fresh fruit, although the prices are continuing to be expensive and not affordable for everyone," the individual commented.

Colder Months Needs

"Our most important needs now, particularly given the arrival of the cold season, are to have a temporary housing to protect us from the cold and warm garments because the shops do not have sufficient clothing for us or, if they are available, they are scarce and prohibitively costly."

Multiple organization-assisted bread-making centers in various locations have resumed functioning since the ceasefire.

Support Transport

Trucks were announced to have passed via the humanitarian corridor through Israeli territory to Gaza during the week, though specific quantities were unknown.

The country's media outlet announced that recent aid deliveries would include nutritional supplies, treatment resources, petroleum products, propane and tools to repair crucial facilities.

"Assistance resources remains flowing to the Gaza territory through the border access point and alternative access points after security checks," an government spokesperson commented.

Delivery Problems

But tracking the volume of transports could be inaccurate, cautioned a specialist from a relief agency. "We must determine the materials within the transports and their loading status for it to be a truly significant metric," the official added.

Business entities are dispatching groups of vehicles containing confectionery, fizzy drinks and light food, which have minimal health benefits, while urgent medical support for young people or others who have gone without proper sustenance for two years are scarce.

Healthcare Status

In Gaza City, only a handful of medical centers are working, compared with many in earlier this year.

Numerous organizations have millions of dollars worth of supplies stockpiled in the region pending distribution. An international organization supporting local residents across the area for a long time has multiple months of supplies of sustenance for all residents prepared to be delivered.

"We have the materials, the equipment and the expertise ... we simply must have the access," said one aid worker, recently returned from Gaza.

Governmental Aspects

A proposed plan specifies that "comprehensive" aid should reach Gaza and be provided through the UN and humanitarian networks, without disruption from either armed factions or state authorities.

This appears to exclude the controversial authority-approved aid group which started working in earlier this year, causing uncontrolled circumstances and numerous casualties as large groups of people gathered around its distribution sites.

Relief representatives in Gaza {told|informed