From the Liveblog of
Friday, December 8, 2023
Only 69 aid trucks entered Gaza Thursday, UN says
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleJacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief
Fewer than 70 trucks of humanitarian aid entered Gaza yesterday, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says, revealing a figure far below what the US and international aid groups have been seeking.
The US has told Israel it wants the amount of aid that entered Gaza during last week’s truce to be sustained and built on moving forward.
Two-hundred trucks of aid entered Gaza each day during the truce, but since it expired last Friday the daily number of trucks hasn’t ever even been more than half that figure, and on Thursday it fell to 69 trucks.
Israel has blamed the UN for the fall-off in the number of trucks being let into Gaza, while international aid groups say delivery is curbed by the ongoing IDF bombing campaign.
After the Wednesday Israeli cabinet decision to allow more fuel into Gaza, 61,000 liters of it entered the Strip on Thursday, OCHA says.
This is just one-third of the amount requested by the US to support the humanitarian effort, but Israel has told Washington it will work to double the number in the coming days and later reach 180,000 liters per day.
The Times of Israel Community.