Israel will try to ‘flood’ Gaza with aid from multiple entry points, says IDF spokesman

Israel will try to “flood” the Gaza Strip with humanitarian aid from a variety of entry points, the IDF’s chief spokesman tells foreign reporters at a press briefing, as international pressure mounts to address the growing problem of hunger in the besieged enclave.

“We are trying to flood the area, to flood it with humanitarian aid,” IDF spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari tells a group of foreign reporters.

Earlier today, the military announced that six aid trucks with supplies from the World Food Organization had entered the northern part of the Gaza Strip, where the hunger crisis has been especially acute, through a crossing in the security fence known as the 96th gate.

More such convoys will follow, as well as deliveries from other entry points, complemented by air drops and seaborne aid cargoes, Hagari says.

“We are learning and improving and doing different changes so as not to create a routine but to create a diversity of ways that we can enter,” he says.

Hagari acknowledges, however, that getting supplies into the enclave is only one part of the problem and more is needed to be done to solve the problem of how to distribute it fairly and efficiently to desperately needy people.

“The problem inside Gaza is the distribution problem,” he says.