🔗 Share this article

While the border entry point from Egypt starts functioning in the coming days, relief agencies encounter major difficulties providing supplies to Gaza City, the region worst hit by starvation, analysts state.

Access Problems

Major routes are virtually unusable due to widespread damage across the conflict-affected area – or continue to be under the control of military units. Any truck that breaks down is almost certainly immediately stripped.

The main entry point, the primary access route to the north, destroyed during multiple years of fighting, has been inactive for many days, and Israeli officials have notified aid groups in Gaza that there are no current intentions to activate the entry location, according to relief personnel.

Damage in Northern Territories

The main city was the objective of a significant armed campaign initiated in August that was still under way when the ceasefire deal was agreed upon a week ago.

Devastation in the north has been massive, with entire towns including local municipalities and adjacent communities in destroyed as well as many of the surrounding regions of Gaza City.

"Any operation of a crossing into Gaza is beneficial, but we need to guarantee we can help civilians where they are," said a senior director from an international NGO.

Relief Circumstances

Witnesses said many of the roughly 300,000 people who have gone back to the northern area from the crowded shelter regions where they had been sheltering during the Israeli offensive were now "camping" among the debris of their homes, often without any protection and with limited nutrition or hydration.

A representative from a humanitarian body said the destruction in northern Gaza was "shocking".

"We see street after street, structure after structure ... there is massive desperation for drinking water. Conditions are severe. We require all the crossings operational," the representative, who was in Gaza City recently, said.

Restricted Access

A local director working from Gaza City said the requirements in what used to be the territory's active economic and cultural hub were "immense".

"There is hope and faith but there needs to be immediate enhancement on the access routes. There has been no any significant change on the situation yet," the director stated.

"We are still getting a small quantity of aid [and] we are only starting to comprehend the extent of damage. So many streets are overwhelmed by debris ... there is almost no home that is undamaged. There remains harm and live explosives everywhere."

Ongoing Changes

On Saturday, aid agencies said modest volumes of vital cooking gas entered Gaza for the initial occasion in many weeks, along with shipments of flour, cereal and farm products. The new supplies sent prices in markets falling.

At a mid-region location, a civilian said there had been some improvement since the ceasefire.

"Commercial areas are containing supplies, fresh goods, and fruits, although the prices are still high and not attainable for the entire population," the person commented.

Colder Months Preparations

"The crucial necessities currently, specifically due to the coming of winter, are to have a tent to keep us safe from the cold and warm garments because the markets do not have enough clothes for us or, if they can be found, they are very few and prohibitively costly."

Several UN-supported bakeries in mid and southern regions have restarted operations since the truce.

Assistance Delivery

Trucks were stated to have entered the Kerem Shalom crossing through Israeli territory to Gaza during recent days, though specific quantities were unclear.

Israel's public broadcaster stated that the day's assistance transports would include food, treatment resources, energy sources, cooking gas and tools to fix essential services.

"Humanitarian aid continues to enter the Gaza territory through the Kerem Shalom crossing and other crossings after security checks," an government spokesperson said.

Allocation Complications

But tracking the volume of transports could be inaccurate, advised a professional from a humanitarian organization. "We must determine the contents of the transports and their loading status for it to be a genuinely useful metric," the expert stated.

Business entities are transporting groups of vehicles containing confectionery, soft drinks and light food, which have minimal health benefits, while emergency treatments for minors or people who have gone without sufficient nutrition for two years are limited.

Healthcare Situation

Within the northern urban center, only few medical centers are working, compared with 45 in July.

Many agencies have substantial resources in assistance materials stockpiled in the region pending distribution. An international organization working with the population across the region for many years has multiple months of supplies of sustenance for all residents in place to be distributed.

"We maintain the materials, the instruments and the expertise ... we simply must have the access," said a humanitarian staff member, recently returned from Gaza.

Governmental Factors

A diplomatic framework specifies that "comprehensive" support should enter Gaza and be provided through international organizations and the Red Crescent, without disruption from both armed factions or state authorities.

This appears to exclude the disputed authority-approved humanitarian organization which began operations in spring, causing disorderly situations and numerous casualties as large groups of people assembled around its distribution sites.

Aid officials in Gaza {told|informed