Following the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Palestinian militants, the head of the UN Palestinian relief agency UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, stated on January 17 that attacks on aid convoys in the Gaza Strip could decline as humanitarian relief floods the area.
UNRWA has 4,000 truckloads of aid ready to enter Gaza, with half of it being food and flour. The UN World Food Programme has also announced it has enough food to feed over a million people for three months.
Lazzarini emphasized the need for orderly, uninterrupted access to the people of Gaza to mitigate tensions and ensure the aid reaches those in need. The ceasefire, agreed upon on January 15 and set to start on January 19, includes the release of hostages taken by militants during their October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel.
USAID Administrator Samantha Power expressed hope that a surge in aid could create a steady pipeline of humanitarian relief for Gaza. She mentioned that USAID has stockpiles ready to send and is working on the logistics of delivering aid.
The ceasefire deal requires 600 truckloads of aid to be allowed into Gaza daily during the initial six-week period, with half of the trucks delivering aid to Gaza’s north, where famine is imminent.
Lazzarini highlighted the logistical challenges within Gaza and the need for bilateral aid to be delivered directly to its destination. He also noted that only 523 aid trucks entered Gaza in January, down sharply from December’s 2,892 trucks.
The humanitarian situation in Gaza has been described as catastrophic by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, with significant damage to infrastructure and a high number of casualties on both sides.
The World Health Organisation plans to bring in prefabricated hospitals to support Gaza’s decimated health sector over the next two months, aiming to facilitate more medical evacuations for the over 12,000 patients currently on the waiting list.