Aid flow to Gaza ‘extremely slow’

Palestinian Territories – AFP

As even Israel’s staunchest allies voiced concern about the dire humanitarian crisis in southern Gaza, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA said on Tuesday there was not nearly enough aid to meet the “unprecedented” needs.

Hisham Adwan, Gaza director of the Rafah crossing with Egypt where some aid has been allowed in, said 36 trucks had been waiting there since the previous day.

“I feel that it’s extremely slow and there’s disruption to UNRWA’s work, and we don’t know why,” he said.

Israel said it is inspecting cargo to make sure weapons are not being smuggled in, and is monitoring to guarantee supplies are not seized by Hamas.

The humanitarian toll has sparked a global backlash, with aid groups and the United Nations saying time is running out for many of the territory’s 2.4 million people denied access to food, water, fuel and medicine.

Surgeons are conducting amputations and other operations on hospital floors without anaesthetic, and children are forced to drink salty water, said Jean-Francois Corty, vice-president of Medecins Sans Frontieres, which has 20 staff on the ground.

Rizk Abu Rok, a 24-year-old paramedic with the Palestinian Red Crescent, told AFP he arrived at the scene of a strike at a cafe only to find his father and several other relatives dead.

“I rushed to the emergency room and found my father there. He had a head wound. I knew immediately that he was dead,” he said.

“I collapsed and lost my nerve. The nurses brought me outside to calm me down.”

Israel has accused Hamas of using hospitals as military headquarters and civilians as “human shields”. The group dismisses the charges as “baseless” propaganda.