Humanitarian aid entering Gaza decreased by 50% in Feb says UNRWA

According to UNRWA, the quantity of humanitarian aid reaching the besieged Gaza Strip decreased by 50% in February compared to January. 

"As of February 2024, only about 99 trucks a day on average is entering Gaza; in January 2024, about 150 trucks a day were entering the region with supplies." Truck traffic into Gaza is still much below the 500-truck daily target, and supplies are still heavily delayed arriving through Rafah and Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom). Due to security measures and temporary closures at both crossings, UNRWA vehicles have had difficulty entering the Gaza Strip, the organization stated in a situation report that was made public on Wednesday. 

“Humanitarian partners (including UNRWA) have been unable to reach northern Gaza, and increasingly parts of southern Gaza, safely. Aid convoys reportedly continue to come under fire and are denied access by the Israeli authorities,” UNRWA affirmed. 

“On 10 February, Education Cluster released its preliminary findings regarding damages to schools since the beginning of the conflict. The report assessed that up to 44 percent of UNRWA school buildings have been either directly hit or damaged,” UNRWA said 

A few days ago, UNRWA commissioner-general Philippe Lazzarini said that “aid was supposed to increase not decrease to address the huge needs of two million Palestinians in desperate living conditions. 

“Among the obstacles: lack of political will, regular closing of the crossing points, lack of security due to military operations and collapse of civil order,” he added. 

Recent findings by UN organizations say that general acute malnutrition has spiked in Gaza among children between six and 59 months old, reaching 16.2 percent and exceeding the critical threshold set by the World Health Organization at 15 percent. 

Last Friday, the UN Human Rights Office released a report saying that “the severe restrictions on the supply of basic services and humanitarian aid imposed by Israel on Gaza have raised the specters of famine, dehydration, and the spread of disease. 

“Most of the population has been repeatedly displaced and crammed into shelters. The blockade and siege imposed on Gaza amount to collective punishment and may also amount to the use of starvation as a method of war, which are war crimes, and may also, depending on further investigation, amount to other serious crimes under international law,” the UN report stated.