Facing International Scrutiny, Israel Allows a Paltry 5 Aid Trucks Into Gaza

Israeli officials touted their allowance of five trucks loaded with humanitarian aid into Gaza on Monday, marking the first aid to enter the Strip in nearly three months — and representing less than 1 percent of what humanitarian groups say is needed to fulfill daily needs even under pre-genocide conditions.

The Israeli defense ministry said on Monday that officials allowed the entry of five UN trucks, including ones carrying baby food, “following the recommendation of professional [Israeli military] officials” and “the political echelon.”

The UN’s top humanitarian official, Tom Fletcher, said in a statement that Israeli officials have cleared just nine UN trucks to enter Gaza on Monday, “a drop in the ocean of what is urgently needed.”

Indeed, humanitarian groups have previously said that Palestinians need at least 500 to 600 trucks of aid to enter the region daily just to meet basic food, medical and shelter needs. However, under current conditions of famine, widespread disease and severe deprivation caused by Israel’s total aid blockade and bombardments, even more trucks may be needed to alleviate the humanitarian catastrophe.

The aid is readily available to enter the Strip; UN officials have said that there are thousands of trucks waiting for approval at the border. However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top officials have effectively openly said that the aid is only a stunt to buy Israel time to continue its plan for the total forcible displacement and slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza.

“The Israeli government’s decision to let a trickle of aid into Gaza — reportedly only nine aid trucks in a day — will do nothing to relieve the threat of famine facing two million Palestinian men, women and children besieged in Gaza,” said the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in a statement Monday.

The truck entry is nothing more than a “PR stunt by Netanyahu’s genocidal government, which is determined to occupy and flatten Gaza, and then expel any Palestinians who survive,” CAIR went on.

Israel has been facing international pressure to reopen Gaza’s borders to humanitarian aid, including a statement by 23 countries on Monday urging Israel to allow a “full resumption of aid” as well as a separate statement by the U.K., France and Canada threatening sanctions if Israel continues its assault of Gaza and settlement expansions in the occupied West Bank.

Meanwhile, Israel has escalated its massacres in recent days, including killing at least 84 Palestinians since dawn on Monday.

Also on Monday, Israeli forces bombed at least two hospitals, Nasser Hospital and Indonesian Hospital. The World Health Organization (WHO) said that the strike on Nasser destroyed roughly a third of critical health care supplies in a nearby WHO warehouse. At Indonesia Hospital, Israeli strikes have reportedly destroyedpower generators, putting patients inside even further at risk after Israel sieged the hospital on Sunday, forcing it to shut down.