Gaza Herald- Israel is purposefully preventing commercial and humanitarian aid from entering the Gaza Strip, according to the Government Media Office (GMO) of Gaza, which has warned that the blockade is exacerbating the already severe humanitarian situation.
Only 145 trucks per day on average have entered Gaza since the ceasefire went into effect on October 10, according to the GMO. This represents only 24% of the 600 daily truckloads that were agreed upon in the truce agreement.
Between October 10 and 31, a total of 3,203 trucks entered the Strip, including 639 commercial trucks and 2,564 carrying humanitarian aid, among them 84 trucks of diesel fuel and 31 trucks of cooking gas.
“We strongly condemn the Israeli occupation’s obstruction of aid and commercial trucks and hold it fully responsible for the worsening and deteriorating humanitarian situation faced by more than 2.4 million people in the Gaza Strip,” the GMO said in a statement.
It urged U.S. President Donald Trump, as well as the guarantor states and mediators of the ceasefire, to pressure Israel to “implement what was signed, particularly the clause regarding the entry of humanitarian and relief aid without restrictions or conditions.”
Humanitarian organizations have also denounced Israel’s restrictions, saying the new registration system imposed by Israeli authorities on international NGOs has resulted in tens of millions of dollars’ worth of aid being held outside Gaza.
A joint statement by 40 international organizations, including Doctors Without Borders, Oxfam, and the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), said Israel had rejected 99 requests to allow aid into Gaza during the first 12 days of the ceasefire, blocking nearly all requests made by the NRC.
The groups said three-quarters of the rejections were justified by Israel on the grounds that the organizations were “not authorized to provide aid.”
Despite the truce between Hamas and Israel, which explicitly calls for the free flow of humanitarian assistance, only limited quantities of aid have reached Gaza — far below the 600 trucks per day needed to meet basic needs.
