COGAT: Amount of aid entering Gaza means there’s no longer a humanitarian crisis in northern Strip

Israel’s civilian coordination agency for the Palestinian territories COGAT states that there is no longer a humanitarian crisis in northern Gaza due to the practically unfettered access of humanitarian aid to the region in recent weeks and months.

Head of COGAT Gen. Ghassan Alian tells the High Court of Justice that on average, 30 trucks of aid per day enter through two out of three crossings between Israel and northern Gaza, and that as a result northern Gaza “is no longer part of the discussion” regarding humanitarian concerns in Gaza.

International organizations warned earlier this year that “a full blown famine” had developed specifically in northern Gaza but those determinations were found to have been incorrect.

Alian also states that UN and international organizations are failing to make full use of the humanitarian aid that Israel has allowed through the Gaza border crossings, noting that 5,283 trucks entered Gaza during June but that only 3,414 were collected from the Gazan side of the crossings by the aid organizations.

A backlog of 1,200 trucks, which had been stuck at the crucial Kerem Shalom crossing and whose contents had not been collected by aid organizations, has been reduced to 500 trucks over the past few weeks, Alian adds.

The COGAT head also notes that Hamas is continuing its efforts to seize humanitarian aid and distribute it, in order both to make money and to preserve its role as ruler of the Gaza Strip.

This, Alian says, makes the aid distribution program more difficult but adds that Israel is continuously working to address this challenge.

Alian also says that there is no limit on the amount of medicine and medical equipment that can be brought into Gaza, and that there is also no limit on the amount of fuel “for humanitarian purposes” that can be brought in.

He adds that despite problems in May due to Egypt’s closure of the Rafah Crossing into Gaza, it has been possible for several weeks for humanitarian organizations to bring in new staff and allow staff currently in Gaza to leave.

Alian makes his comments in the fourth High Court hearing over a petition filed by the Gisha human rights organization and other groups requesting that the court order the government to allow unhindered access of humanitarian aid at scale to the Gaza Strip amid the ongoing war with Hamas.