Is Aid Finally Reaching Gaza After Two Years of Israeli Genocide? Here’s What We Know

Gaza (QNN)- After two years of genocide, Israel has allowed only a fraction of the humanitarian aid deliveries agreed on as part of the ceasefire, now in its third week, including shelters and food. Aid agencies and Gaza residents describe the aid entering as “limited”, calling on Israel to facilitate the flow of assistance.

Israeli-Made Famine

During the two-year genocidal war on Gaza, Israel closed all border crossings, including the Rafah crossing with Egypt, blocking the entry of aid and goods.

The tight siege led to a famine, officially declared by the IPC in August, leaving dozens dead from malnutrition and a lack of medicine.

What Does the Ceasefire Say About Gaza Aid?

The US-brokered agreement signed on October 10 between Hamas and Israel stipulated an end to the siege by the reopening of the Rafah crossing for the movement of people and the entry of 600 humanitarian aid trucks, including 50 carrying fuel, daily.

Has Israel Committed to This?
No. Here’s Why:

In a statement on Saturday, Gaza’s Government Media Office said that 3,203 commercial and aid trucks brought supplies into Gaza between October 10 and 31.

This is an average of 145 aid trucks per day, or just 24 percent of the 600 trucks that are meant to be entering Gaza daily as part of the deal, it added.

People Movement: Israel has so far kept the Rafah crossing closed, preventing tens of thousands of critically wounded and sick people from seeking treatment abroad.

Fuel: Only around 115 fuel trucks have entered, roughly 10 percent of the agreed quantity.

Trucks: The number of trucks entering the Gaza Strip has consistently fallen well below the 600 needed daily, averaging around 145 carrying humanitarian aid each day, along with some transporting commercial goods.

Medicine: Only around 10 percent of essential and urgently needed medical supplies have entered.

Heavy Machinery: Israel has yet to permit the entry of heavy machinery required to clear rubble, reopen roads and retrieve bodies.

Shelters: Israel has not allowed a meaningful quantity of tents and shelters to enter since the start of the war.

What Foods Does Israel Deny or Limit Access to?

• Israel blocks access to over 430 types of essential food items. Among these items:
• Eggs
• Red meat
• White meat
• Fish
• Cheese
• Dairy products
• Fruits
• Vegetables
• Nutritional supplements
• Along with dozens of other items essential for pregnant women and patients.

“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 office said in a statement on Saturday.

It also called on US President Donald Trump and other ceasefire deal mediators to put pressure on Israel to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza “without restrictions and conditions”.

Since the Gaza ceasefire was signed, Israel has continued to violate the agreement.

The violations included crimes of direct gunfire against civilians, deliberate shelling and targeting, and the arrest of a number of civilians, reflecting the occupation’s continued policy of aggression despite the declared end of the war, said the Office.

What Aid Agencies Say?

Aid and UN groups have said that despite overwhelming needs, the Israeli occupation is still allowing just a “small fraction” of the humanitarian aid needed into Gaza.

“The ceasefire must immediately unlock full and unrestricted humanitarian access to Gaza, supported by the international community ensuring that a sustainable ceasefire is upheld,” said Oxfam last week. “The international community must also ensure that Israel opens all crossings and allows aid and commercial goods to flow freely and safely at scale into every corner of the Strip.”

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said the scale-up of humanitarian operations “continues under the ceasefire, but remains constrained by ongoing restrictions and other impediments.”

According to OCHA, aid convoys have faced repeated rerouting orders from Israel for three consecutive days, forcing them to use the Philadelphi Corridor along the border with Egypt before moving north through the narrow and heavily congested Coastal Road.

“This road is narrow, damaged, and heavily congested. Movement remained slower, even after the World Food Program repaired the road. Additional crossings and internal routes are needed to expand collections and response,” UN deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq said in a press briefing last week.

Now, 40 international NGOs, including Médecins Sans Frontières, Oxfam, People in Need and NRC, said last week that Israel had denied 99 requests to deliver aid to Gaza in the first 12 days of the ceasefire.

Three-quarters of the refusals came on the grounds that these organizations, some of which have operated in Gaza for years, were “not authorized” to deliver aid to the Gaza Strip, the humanitarian groups said.

“We’re now in a stalemate,” Jan Egeland, head of the Norwegian Refugee Council, said, explaining that when his group asks to bring in aid, Israeli occupation says: “Your registration is under review, you cannot bring aid in, you’re not approved to bring in aid supplies.”

In this context, UNRWA has said that winter shelter supplies sufficient for one million people remain stockpiled in warehouses and are barred by Israel from entering Gaza.

Local officials warn that Gaza’s displaced population faces dire living conditions. Alaa al-Batta, mayor of Khan Younis, said thousands of displaced people live in dilapidated tents that cannot protect them from winter cold or summer heat. He added that 93% of the tents are uninhabitable, forcing over 900,000 residents and tens of thousands of forcibly displaced people from Rafah into crowded conditions.

Ahmed Ashour, a resident of Tel al-Hawa, told QNN that conditions in Gaza City are “miserable.”

“It is getting worse with the rubble, the destruction, and the dilapidated tents. We hoped that the ceasefire would increase the flow of aid, but nothing has happened,” he added.

Nadia Seda, a mother of three, said, “When will we be able to eat like normal people? My children wish to eat meat or even an apple. The aid entering Gaza is limited and restricted. We want eggs, chicken, meat, vegetables, and the list goes on.”

She told QNN about the food trends they see regularly on TikTok and other social media apps while they are starving in Gaza. “The world has no mercy,” she said.