JERUSALEM – Aid deliveries into Gaza are falling far short of the amount called for under the U.S.-brokered ceasefire, according to an Associated Press analysis of the Israeli military’s figures as humanitarian groups say the shortfall is severely impacting the strip's 2 million people.
Under the October ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, Israel agreed to allow 600 trucks of aid into Gaza a day.
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However, Israel’s own figures suggest that an average of only 459 trucks a day have entered the Gaza Strip between Oct. 12, when the flow of the aid restarted, and Sunday, according to an AP analysis. COGAT, the Israeli military body in charge of coordinating aid entry, provided the figures.
Aid flow does not meet ceasefire benchmark
COGAT said that roughly 18,000 trucks of food aid had entered Gaza from when the ceasefire took effect until Sunday, amounting to 70% of all aid that had entered the territory since the truce.
This means that COGAT estimates that including the rest of the aid — items that are not food, such as tents and medicines — a total of just over 25,700 trucks have entered Gaza. That is well under the 33,600 trucks that should have gone in by Sunday, under the terms of the ceasefire.
In response to the AP analysis, COGAT insisted Wednesday the number of trucks entering Gaza each day was above the 600 mark but refused to elaborate why the figures don't match or provide raw data on truck entry.
COGAT used to give daily figures of trucks entering Gaza during the war but stopped doing so when the ceasefire began. Rights groups say that is because it controls the crossings and has sole access to track how much aid and commercial goods are entering Gaza.
The United Nations and aid groups have often said the amount of aid entering Gaza is far lower than COGAT claims.
The U.N. says only 6,545 trucks have been offloaded at Gaza crossings between the ceasefire and Dec. 7, amounting to about 113 trucks a day. That's according to its online database. The U.N. figures do not include aid trucks sent by organizations not working through the U.N. network.
A Hamas document on Saturday provided to the AP put the amount of total aid trucks that have entered since the truce at 7,333.
This week, the U.N. office for humanitarian affairs, known as OCHA, stressed a “dire” need for more aid for Gaza, saying Israeli restrictions on aid have bottlenecked recovery efforts.
Food remains scarce, aid groups say
Humanitarian groups say lack of aid has had harsh effects on much of Gaza's residents, most of whom were forcibly displaced by war. Food remains scarce as the Palestinian territory struggles to bounce back from famine, which hit parts of Gaza during the war.
Starving mothers in Gaza are giving birth to malnourished babies, some of whom have died in hospital, according to a recent report by UNICEF. As winter rains pick up, displaced families living in tents have been left exposed to the elements and without supplies to cope with floods and the biting cold.
“Needs far outpace the humanitarian community’s ability to respond, given persistent impediments,” a UNICEF report said on Monday. “These obstacles include insecurity, customs clearance challenges, delays and denials of cargo at the crossings, and limited routes available for transporting humanitarian supplies within Gaza.”
Israel temporarily stopped all aid entry at least once in response to alleged Hamas violations of the truce. Israel said that Hamas has failed to return the bodies of the hostages in the time period established by the ceasefire, while Hamas has said it struggled to find the bodies due to the destruction left by Israel in the Palestinian territory.
Hamas has also accused Israel of violating the ceasefire terms because of the slow flow of aid, continued closure of the Rafah crossing and ongoing deadly strikes on Gaza.
Palestinians in Gaza rely on firewood for warmth
Since the U.S.-brokered ceasefire began on Oct. 10, the price for a 12-kilogram (26.5 pound) cylinder of cooking gas has shot up to 1,314 shekels ($406), about 18 times what it was before the war.
That has left many residents relying on firewood for both cooking and to stay warm as temperatures plunge ahead of winter, including the 23-member Abed family in the northern city of Jabaliya.
“We are living under the rubble and sleeping on torn sheets. We collect some firewood, and cut sponges to start a fire,” Marwan Abed, 62, told the AP from under the crumbling concrete of his house. He said firewood is the only way “to keep the children warm” and to prepare coffee.
Dispute over remains of the final hostage
Israel is demanding Palestinian militants return the remains of the final hostage, Ran Gvili, from Gaza. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said Wednesday that Gvili’s return was a condition of moving to the second phase of the ceasefire.
“Once phase one is completed, phase two will begin,” it said.
Hamas militants and Red Cross crews continued to comb the ruins of Gaza City for the final body this week. The militant group Islamic Jihad claimed it had handed over the last hostage body in its possession.
On Tuesday, Hamas called for more international pressure on Israel to open key border crossings, cease deadly strikes on the territory and allow more aid into the strip.
Regional leaders have said time is critical for the ceasefire agreement as mediators seek to push the truce into its second, more complicated phase.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump said Wednesday he would name members “early next year” to a panel tasked with governing Gaza and overseeing reconstruction under a two-year, renewable U.N. mandate, Trump had previously said he would name members to the so-called “Board of Peace,” a key element of the ceasefire deal, by the end of 2025. He did not detail why the timeline for naming board members has shifted.
“It is going to be one of the most legendary boards ever, everybody wants to be on it,” Trump said. He added that kings, prime ministers and presidents have asked to be included on the board.
A Palestinian teen killed in a Gaza refugee camp
The director of the Shifa hospital in Gaza, Mohamed Abu Selmiya, said doctors received on Wednesday the body of a 17-year-old Palestinian teenager who had been run over and crushed to death by an Israeli tank in the Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza.
Asked about the incident, Israel’s military said it had killed a militant on Wednesday who had crossed the so-called Yellow Line — which divides the Israeli-held part of Gaza from the rest — in northern Gaza.
It said it could not provide any more details on the incident.
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Associated Press writers Megan Janetsky in Jerusalem, Toqa Ezzidin in Cairo, Sam Mednick in Tel Aviv, Israel, and Aamer Madhani in Washington contributed to this report.