“No one enters or leaves”: where are the flows of aid at the checkpoints in the Gaza Strip?

Two key crossing points into the Gaza Strip are blocked by Israel, and with it the flow of humanitarian aid. These restrictions are a concern for NGOs given the enormous needs of the Palestinian territory, which has been besieged and devastated by the seven-month conflict sparked by Hamas’ unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7.

According to Israeli authorities on Wednesday, two entry points are open from Israel to the Gaza Strip: Erez in the north of the territory and Kerem Shalom in the south. The Rafah terminal, the only entry point for fuel from Egypt, has been closed since the Israeli army took control of it on the Palestinian side on Tuesday. Other goods passed through this crossing, located in the far south of the Gaza Strip and which, until its closure, was the main terminal for aid entering Gaza.

Kerem Shalom has reopened.

The army said it reopened Kerem Shalom on Wednesday, closed for three days following a rocket attack claimed by the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas. However, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa, says no aid is coming through the southern Gaza Strip. “We can’t collect help” at checkpoints “because we don’t have fuel,” spokeswoman Juliette Tuma told AFP.

Specifically, “Rafah and Kerem Shalom have been largely closed since Sunday evening,” Save the Children’s Alexandra Saye further confirmed during an online press conference, and “therefore, the humanitarian access needed to prevent famine, planned for March, was not provided. »

On Tuesday and Wednesday there was “no rotation” of personnel through the Rafah checkpoint or “medical evacuations.” No one enters or exits” through this terminal, assures Helena Ranchal of Doctors of the World (MdM), and above all, according to her, nothing enters: “no water, no food, no fuel, no medicine, and etc.” According to her, there is “no visible” future for NGOs.

Difficulties in delivering aid to the North

According to the NGO, the Erez checkpoint “never operated at full capacity.” It opened only sporadically and was not accessible to the majority of the humanitarian community. In addition, they note, their offices, warehouses and logistics centers are now based in the south of an area of ​​about 365 km2.

This makes delivering aid to the north, which chronologically was the first area to be attacked by Israel on October 27, even more challenging. The destroyed roads are one of the physical obstacles, as are the checkpoints that Israel has set up in Wadi Gaza, the center, with strict controls on the movement of goods and people.

Rising prices

Prices have risen sharply in recent days, humanitarian workers testify: almost 40 euros for 1 liter of gasoline, 12 euros for a cigarette. Hospitals in the southern Gaza Strip have only three days’ worth of fuel left, the head of the World Health Organization warned on Wednesday.

According to Rafik Elmadhoun of the Rebuilding Alliance, the fuel shortage has caused transport costs to “triple” and the price of tomatoes, for example, to “go crazy”, although he believes their vitamins will be very valuable at the moment. The number of cases of hepatitis is increasing.

An artificial port built by the Americans

In addition to the sea routes and airborne assaults used by the international community to circumvent restrictions on access to the Gaza Strip, the US Army has just completed construction of an artificial port. But “the effectiveness of this pier depends on external factors such as weather,” and “we don’t know what Israeli aid inspections will look like,” explains Alexandra Saye, so “this could become a new bottleneck.”

The methods of operation of the $320 million temporary port are not specified, and NGOs fear the privatization of aid processing and delivery operations.

The Rafah terminal raises the same concerns. Until now, incoming products were unloaded between Egypt and the Gaza Strip and then loaded into vehicles driven by Palestinian NGO staff for distribution throughout the territory. However, “there are rumors that” the crossing will be entrusted to a private company, comments Jesse Marks of Refugee International, “so we are in deep uncertainty at the moment.”

“We need all options to deliver aid to Gaza,” emphasizes Alexandra Saye. “But the most efficient route remains land routes,” and “hundreds of trucks are still waiting at the border to enter.”