On the 14th local time, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) of the United Nations released a report stating that in July, nearly 13,000 children in Gaza were hospitalized due to severe malnutrition, with 2,800 suffering from severe acute malnutrition.
The report also noted that in July, the World Food Programme arranged for 1,012 trucks to be dispatched from Gaza border crossings, carrying a total of 13,000 tons of food. However, only 10 trucks arrived at the designated warehouses within the Gaza Strip, while the rest “disembarked at the destination.” It remains unclear whether this represents organized theft or group robbery.
The humanitarian situation in Gaza worsened.
On the 14th, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs warned that over the past two days, airstrikes and shelling in parts of Gaza City have intensified, with Dierbarah and Khan Yunis also being subjected to sustained attacks. Residential buildings and tents used as shelters by displaced persons have been frequently hit, resulting in significant casualties.
The United Nations pointed out that if ground operations announced by Israel advance into Gaza City, thousands of families already in extreme distress could be further endangered. Currently, 86% of Gaza’s territory is under military control or evacuation orders, leaving rescue organizations lacking access and supplies. The Israeli ban on importing shelter materials has persisted for more than five months, with recent high temperatures exacerbating the situation, leaving hundreds of thousands without shade.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization assisted 38 patients (mostly children) and nearly a hundred accompanying individuals from Gaza to Italy, Belgium, and Turkey on the 13th. Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called for more countries to provide assistance and restore referral routes to the West Bank, emphasizing that “peace is the best medicine.”
Israel’s restrictions on supplies sent to Gaza
The current humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is dire. Truck drivers responsible for transporting relief supplies stated that only a small portion of the supplies they deliver can reach Gaza, with many others being restricted by Israeli authorities.
At the Lafa Port, located at the border between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, a batch of aid containers has been returned by Israel. A truck driver responsible for delivering supplies in the area mentioned that there had been significant delays in the delivery of supplies intended to enter the Gaza Strip.
I was delivering baby formula, which is already my second attempt to deliver it back. Israel would find various excuses, such as the trays not being labeled, the trays being tilted, or the tops of the trays not sealed properly, but these could not justify us returning the supplies.
We wanted to deliver these aid materials into the Palestinian Gaza Strip to help those suffering there. Unfortunately, our attempts were unsuccessful three times. Hundreds of trucks entered from the Egyptian border, with the Egyptian crossing points being open 24 hours a day, but Israeli obstructions came from behind, limiting access to only 30 or 40 trucks per day, then saying “we’re closing,” forcing the trucks to return.
The truck drivers mentioned that Israel also refused entry to goods due to minor packaging issues and strictly reviewed the potential military-civilian dual use properties of the materials.
Marie Robinson, former High Commissioner for Human Rights:
It’s quite funny to see how a truck driver who has already been rejected twice can be denied entry due to a very small issue. Even though the Red Crescent Society and the United Nations have conducted strict reviews. We know that many rejections are without reason.
This week, the Gaza Media Office stated that since Israel announced the allowance of supplies into Gaza, at least 1,334 trucks have passed through land crossings including Lafa Port, far from the expected 600 trucks per day. The United Nations had indicated that the people of the Gaza Strip need at least 600 trucks of supplies daily to sustain their lives.