WHO says no agency truck carrying humanitarian aid has entered Gaza: 68 vehicles are ready
No truck carrying humanitarian aid from the World Health Organization (WHO) has been able to enter Gaza so far, despite 68 vehicles being prepared to do so, one of its top officials confirmed at the organization's assembly on Wednesday.
"Two trucks (with the help of other humanitarian actors) were able to enter on Tuesday, and three others were denied access, but none from the WHO have been able to enter Gaza so far," said Mike Ryan, the agency's director of Humanitarian Emergencies, during a discussion on the health situation in the Palestinian Territories.
Displaced Palestinians gather to collect food. Photo: AFP
The delegation of Israel, a country that has blocked the entry of this humanitarian aid since early March, alleged in the same debate within the WHO that Hamas has used humanitarian aid who previously entered Gaza to profit from its sale and "prolong the war."
'They are left to barely survive': MSF The NGO Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said Wednesday that the humanitarian aid authorized by Israel in Gaza is "ridiculously insufficient" and is nothing more than "a smokescreen to make people believe the siege is over."
Israel is facing growing pressure from the international community to abandon its military campaign in Gaza and allow aid into the Palestinian territory, where humanitarian agencies warn that the total blockade imposed has led to severe shortages of food and medicine.
"The decision by the Israeli authorities to allow a ridiculously insufficient amount of aid into Gaza after months of siege (...) shows their intention to avoid the accusation of starving people in Gaza , while in fact leaving them barely surviving," said Pascale Coissard, MSF's emergency coordinator in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, in a statement.
"This plan is a way to instrumentalize aid, transforming it into a tool in the service of Israeli forces' military objectives," he added.
According to MSF, the aid authorized in the Strip since Monday, amounting to around 100 trucks per day, "is just a smokescreen."
The organization denounced that the siege Israel imposed on Gaza in early March to force the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas to release the hostages "continues."
A Palestinian cries outside Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. Photo: AFP
The bulk of Gaza's population, more than 2 million people, is almost entirely dependent on aid entering the narrow Palestinian territory , devastated by the intense bombing and military operations ordered in response to the Hamas attack on Israeli territory on October 7, 2023.
At least 20 medical facilities in Gaza have been damaged or partially or completely shut down in the past week due to the Israeli campaign, MSF added.
The organization also denounced the large-scale evacuation orders issued by the Israeli army, which limit its ability to care for the wounded.
"The displacement site management group estimates that more than 138,900 people were forcibly displaced between May 15 and 20 ," the NGO stressed.
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