By Michelle Nichols
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – More than 4,200 aid trucks have entered the Gaza Strip in the six days since a ceasefire began between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas, the United Nations said, although there was a large drop in the number of loads delivered on Friday.
The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said 339 aid trucks crossed into Gaza on Friday, citing information from Israeli authorities and the guarantors for the ceasefire agreement – the United States, Egypt and Qatar.
This compares with 630 on Sunday, 915 on Monday, 897 on Tuesday, 808 on Wednesday, and 653 on Thursday.
The truce deal requires at least 600 truckloads of aid to enter Gaza each day of the initial six-week ceasefire, including 50 carrying fuel. Half of those trucks are supposed to go to Gaza’s north, where experts have warned famine is imminent.
When asked why there was a large drop in the number of aid trucks on Friday, OCHA spokesperson Eri Kaneko said the U.N. and humanitarian partners “have been working as quickly as possible to dispatch and distribute this large volume of assistance” to some 2.1 million people across the devastated enclave.
The influx of aid this week compares with just 2,892 aid trucks entering Gaza for the whole of December, according to data from the U.N. Palestinian relief agency UNRWA.
Aid is dropped off on the Gaza side of the border, where it is picked up by the U.N. and distributed. Data from OCHA shows 2,230 aid truckloads – an average of 72 a day – were then picked up in December.
Throughout the 15-month war, the U.N. has described its humanitarian operation as opportunistic – facing problems with Israel’s military operation, access restrictions by Israel, and more recently looting by armed gangs.
The U.N. has said that there has been no apparent major law-and-order issues since the ceasefire came into effect.
“We are also scaling up the broader response, including by providing protection assistance, education activities and other essential support,” Kaneko said.
(Reporting by Michelle Nichols, Editing by Rosalba O’Brien)
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