Israel says 237 aid trucks entered north Gaza in past 9 days, ending 2-week blockage
Surge comes after US gave Israel 30 days to increase aid or risk getting cut off from military aid; UN calls for humanitarian pause, saying hospitals are running out of supplies
The Israeli military body in charge of aid distribution in the Palestinian territories said on Tuesday that more than 230 aid trucks have entered the northern Gaza Strip over the past nine days, amid pressure from the US to ramp up humanitarian assistance in the war-torn territory.
The UN, meanwhile, urged Israel to consider implementing a humanitarian pause in its renewed offensive against Hamas in northern Gaza, saying that despite the increase in aid hospitals were running out of supplies with which to treat the injured.
The Biden administration warned Israel on October 13 that it had 30 days to take significant steps to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and in particular in the north, or risk the continued supply of some offensive weapons.
Since that date, 237 trucks carrying “food, water, medical supplies and shelter equipment from Jordan and the international community” have entered northern Gaza, the IDF’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories said on Tuesday.
The army said that the aid was transferred to the northern Gaza Strip via the Allenby Crossing and Ashdod Port to the “Erez West” between Israel and Gaza after undergoing security checks.
“The IDF, via COGAT, will continue to act in accordance with international law to facilitate and ease the humanitarian response to the Gaza Strip,” COGAT said.
The US ultimatum was issued following a two-week period in which no aid was allowed into northern Gaza, leading aid groups to sound the alarm over the dangerous conditions being endured by the several hundred thousand Palestinian civilians thought to remain there.
The two-week halt on aid into northern Gaza led to reports that Israel was implementing the so-called “General’s Plan” to seal off humanitarian aid to the north in an attempt to starve out Hamas terrorists.
If implemented, the highly controversial plan could trap without food or water hundreds of thousands of Palestinians unwilling or unable to leave their homes after being ordered to flee by the IDF.
The IDF denied carrying out such a plan, although government officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have yet to do the same on record. A former deputy chief of the National Security Council accused the security cabinet on Tuesday of having secretly approved the controversial proposal, which he said would amount to a war crime if carried out.
Although he has abstained from denying on record that the plan exists, Netanyahu told US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during a meeting in Jerusalem on Tuesday that it was not Israel’s policy to isolate northern Gaza, a US official said during a briefing with reporters.
“We said, okay, then you should go to greater lengths to say that publicly,” the US official told reporters, adding that Netanyahu had recognized the “seriousness” of US warnings on the matter.
“They recognize the seriousness with which we have expressed our concern about the current situation, and are committed to responding to it and acting upon requests,” said the official.
COGAT’s statement on Tuesday noted that it began surging aid into northern Gaza on October 14 following a directive from the political echelon. Whether this directive was due to international pushback over Israel’s alleged implementation of the General’s Plan remains unclear.
Not everyone was said to be on board with the decision to increase aid deliveries, however, as the Kan public broadcaster reported on Tuesday that Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar was opposed to any increase in aid to the Gaza Strip, even in the face of the US ultimatum.
The report said that Bar supports the transfer of the “minimum” amount of aid allowed under international law, and believes that by doing so, Hamas will be pressured into agreeing to release the hostages.
The pushback amid speculation about the General’s Plan has come not only from the US but also Germany, considered to be one of Israel’s staunchest allies.
Channel 12 reported on Tuesday that in a call with Foreign Minister Israel Katz the day before, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock warned “the humanitarian situation in northern Gaza makes it very hard to defend [Israel] internationally.”
She was said to have counseled Katz to use the killing of Hamas chief and architect of the October 7 onslaught Yahya Sinwar as a pretext to declare victory over the terror group in Gaza and leverage his death to reach a favorable ceasefire and hostage release agreement.
Katz made no public acknowledgment of the reported warning, and instead said on X that the two had discussed “Israel’s war on seven different fronts, the opportunities created after the elimination of Sinwar for advancing a hostage release deal, and the chance to increase pressure on Iran following the heavy blows we inflicted on their forward base, Hezbollah.”
“Now is the time to seize the momentum and move forward to achieve all our war objectives: the return of the hostages, dismantling Hamas’s military and governing capabilities, and returning the northern residents to their homes,” he added.
Even amid the increase in aid, which the US said earlier this week still has a way to go, the United Nations said on Tuesday it was running out of supplies to treat patients injured in the renewed IDF offensive in northern Gaza.
Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UNRWA for Palestinian refugees asserted the humanitarian situation had reached a dire point, with bodies abandoned by roadsides or buried under rubble.
To that end, the UN Palestinian refugee agency called for a temporary truce to allow people to leave areas of northern Gaza.
“In northern Gaza, people are just waiting to die,” he said in a statement on X. “They feel deserted, hopeless and alone.”
“I am calling for an immediate truce, even if for a few hours, to enable safe humanitarian passage for families who wish to leave the area [and] reach safer places,” he added.
Lazzarini’s agency has long had tense relations with Israel but ties have deteriorated sharply since the Hamas terror group attacked Israel on October 7 last year, sparking the ongoing war in Gaza. Israeli leaders in January accused UNRWA staff of collaborating with Hamas operatives in Gaza, leading some donors to suspend funding, although many of those decisions have since been reversed.
???????? from our @UNRWA staff in northern #Gaza.
Nearly three weeks of non-stop bombardments from the Israeli Forces as the death toll increases.
Our staff report they cannot find food, water or medical care.
The smell of death is everywhere as bodies are left lying on the roads…— Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) October 22, 2024
During the October 7, 2023, invasion of southern Israel, Palestinian terrorists killed some 1,200 people and seized 251 as hostages.
It is believed that 97 hostages still remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 34 confirmed dead by the IDF. Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the bodies of two IDF soldiers who were killed in 2014.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 42,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, although the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says it has killed some 17,000 combatants in battle as of August and another 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7.
Israel’s toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and in military operations along the border with the Strip stands at 358.
Jacob Magid contributed to this report.
