Israel's easing of Gaza siege 'totally insufficient' to address spiralling hunger crisis

Aid agencies have warned that Israel's decision to slightly ease its suffocating 11-week siege on Gaza will do little to slow the spiralling hunger crisis, with hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in the strip now close to starvation.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, under pressure from the United States, announced on Sunday that his government would allow a "basic amount of food" to enter. However, relief agencies noted that Tel Aviv has yet to disclose how many trucks will be permitted daily or what goods will be allowed in.

An Israeli official said on Monday that "dozens" of aid trucks would enter Gaza "in the coming days" - a figure far below the 600 trucks per day that humanitarian groups say are needed to begin alleviating the crisis.

Discussions are ongoing over how aid agencies will distribute the supplies, as Israel continues to escalate its devastating military offensive.

"The UN has been approached by Israeli authorities to resume limited aid delivery, and we are in discussions with them on how this would take place given the conditions on the ground," Tamara Al-Rifai, spokesperson for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) told The New Arab.

"The minimum required would be 500 to 600 trucks per day, which was the standard before the war and the agreed figure during the ceasefire," she added.

Just nine trucks were allowed to cross the border on Monday. Tom Fletcher, who heads the UN's humanitarian agency, called it a "drop in the ocean".

Israel has blocked nearly all goods from entering Gaza for almost three months, worsening the hunger crisis and causing widespread shortages of fuel and medical supplies, which have crippled emergency services.

The World Food Programme has been without food stocks for almost a month. Dozens of community kitchens and bakeries have shut down. The World Central Kitchen exhausted its supplies on 8 May.

More than 100,000 tonnes of food have been left rotting at the border for weeks, prevented from entering by Israeli authorities.

A global food monitor recently reported that more than 20 percent of Gaza's 2.2 million residents were now facing "catastrophic" levels of hunger, and warned that the entire population could reach crisis level by September if the siege is not lifted.

"We need at least 600 trucks per day to begin halting the collapse of the humanitarian system. Anything less is totally insufficient," Amjad Shawa, the head of the Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations Network (PNGO) in Gaza, told The New Arab.

"We are facing a complex humanitarian disaster that has affected all areas, which requires massive supplies," he said.

Aid agencies have for weeks accused Israel of deliberately starving civilians and have urged global powers to intervene to end the blockade.

"Will you act, decisively, to prevent genocide and ensure respect for international humanitarian law?" UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher asked members of the UN Security Council last week.

The World Food Programme and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs did not respond to The New Arab's request for comment by the time of publication.

Relentless assault

Netanyahu’s announcement on Sunday came just hours after the Israeli military said it had begun an "extensive" invasion of Gaza, which the government claims is aimed at seizing control of the entire territory.

Over the past week, more than 500 Palestinians have reportedly been killed in relentless Israeli airstrikes.

Warplanes and drones have attacked multiple hospitals across the strip. On Sunday, the last functioning hospital in northern Gaza was forced to shut down under sustained bombardment.

The onslaught is part of a newly approved Israeli government plan to "conquer" and occupy the entire enclave. Ministers have declared their intention to forcibly displace Gaza’s population and "destroy" what remains of the already devastated territory.

"What the Israeli government is doing is an attempt to evade international pressure and obscure the expansion of its military operations, which are based on the forced evacuation of large areas of the Gaza Strip," said Shawa.

"This comes amid threats of starvation, forced displacement, and daily killings carried out by the Israeli occupation. The situation is worsening and poses an imminent threat to civilian lives," he added.

Aid takeover

Israel says it will begin taking over aid distribution in Gaza next week, despite overwhelming opposition from humanitarian organisations and even some of its closest allies.

Under the plan, Palestinians will be forced to travel to designated locations to collect limited amounts of supplies.

Distribution will be overseen by the Israeli military, US private security contractors, and a newly established body called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

Aid groups have refused to cooperate, saying the plan was being implemented for military purposes and designed to further displace Palestinians.

The strategy has reportedly received support from the Trump administration, which has been pressuring aid agencies to comply.