Israel Blocks 83% Of Food Aid To Gaza

A report drawn up by organizations operating in Gaza denounces that Israel is blocking 83% of food aid and says that the inhabitants have gone from having two meals a day to just one every two days.

“It is estimated that 50,000 children between the ages of 6 and 59 months will be in urgent need of treatment for malnutrition by the end of the year,” warned the organizations, including Save the Children, Oxfam and the Norwegian Refugee Council.

In comparison, 34% of the food aid the enclave needed had been delivered in 2023, allowing Gazans to eat two meals a day on average.

The report warns that this “drastic drop” in aid reaching the Strip is leading to a “humanitarian disaster” in which the entire Gaza population “faces hunger and disease.”

Last August, an average of 69 aid trucks entered Gaza per day, compared to 500 last year, which was already insufficient to meet the population’s needs.

"In August, more than a million people did not receive food rations in southern and central Gaza," the organizations said, warning that as long as the conflict continues, "a high risk of famine will persist throughout the Strip." The report also highlights the shortcomings of Gaza's health system, with only 17 of the enclave's 36 hospitals functioning and with almost no resources to treat patients. "Only about 1,500 hospital beds remain operational in Gaza, down from the estimated 3,500 beds expected to be available in 2023, which were already far from meeting the needs of a population of more than two million people," the organizations said in a statement. The availability of hygiene items has fallen to 15% of the amount available in September 2023.

"As Israeli military attacks on Gaza intensify, the entry of life-saving food, medicine, medical supplies, fuel and tents has been systematically blocked for almost a year," the statement read.

Israel says it has facilitated the entry of aid since the beginning of the war and blames the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas for the blockade of these products, also accusing some humanitarian agencies of not distributing them.