3 aid trucks have reached North Gaza in last 2.5 months
Reports from Oxfam suggest over the course of two and a half months, only three trucks carrying vital aid have reached North Gaza Governorate, according to Middle East Monitor on December 23, 2024. Although twenty-five trucks were allowed entry by Israel, twenty-two were obstructed or delayed by Israeli military, leaving Palestinian civilians without aid.
Since October 2024, Oxfam as well as other humanitarian organisations have been unable to deliver regular aid to northern Gaza as Israel’s siege of Jabalia, Beit Lahia, and Beit Hanoun blocks access. Thousands of Palestinians remain cut off without food or water.
A convoy comprising of 11 trucks was stopped at Jabalia, where supplies were seized and redirected to a militarised zone in. In another convoy, three of 14 trucks arrived at their destination of Mahdia Al-Shawa school in Beit Hanoun. Hours after the aid was distributed, Israeli forces attacked the school, destroying the building the very next day.
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The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) recently warned that famine is already occurring in northern Gaza, this risk also spreading across the whole Gaza strip. Oxfam has called the situation emerging in Gaza “apocalyptic”. Families are beginning to resort to extreme courses of action to survive, exposing themselves to disease and injury from sharp debris and unexploded bombs in their search for food and medical supplies.
As well as this, food prices have soared. One Palestinian man, evacuated from Al-Maghazi refugee camp, told middle east monitor: “Adults tell the kids not to play so they don’t get dizzy. One pack of biscuits is all we have for 15 grandchildren. We need shelter but a simple plastic tarpaulin costs $180. We’re doing everything we can, but it’s not enough.”
The Palestinian Civil Defence has reported 2,700 deaths in North Gaza since October 2024.many of the bodies remain unrecovered amid relentless shelling. Over 130,000 have been displaced, a majority of those displaced being women and children.
Gaza right now, has the highest number of child amputees in the world. At the same time, Gaza`s healthcare system is collapsing, lacking critical supplies such as antibiotics, anaesthetics and pain relief.
Oxfam, among various other humanitarian aid organisations, has condemned Israel’s ongoing blockade, stating that these actions are in breach of international law. These organisations have repeatedly called for unrestricted access to the strip, as Gaza’s humanitarian crisis spirals further into disaster.
In a recent statement, Sally Abi-Khalil, Oxfam’s regional director, has condemned the international community’s lack of action, stating: “The absolute desperation of having no food or shelter for your family in the biting cold of winter. It is abhorrent that despite international law being so publicly violated by Israel and starvation being used relentlessly as a weapon of war, world leaders continue to do nothing.”
“Gaza has been widely destroyed and the entire population is suffering. The public sector has collapsed and the humanitarian system is on its knees. We plead with the entire international community – stop this, now. You have the diplomatic and economic levers to make Israel stop. Every day that passes without a ceasefire is a death sentence for hundreds more civilians.”
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Aid delivery remains severely hampered as critical crossings are barely functional, or off-limits to aid organisations. Winter weather is set to worsen conditions for over 1.6 million people living in tents and makeshift shelters, with half a million of these in flood-prone areas. According to the UN, only 23% of displaced Palestinians have been given adequate material to shelter them from cold and rain, meaning over 900,000 have been left at risk of exposure.
Middle East Monitor, Oxfam
