This week it was announced that the USA together with the EU, among others, will build a temporary, floating port outside Gaza and bring in aid via the sea route.
On Sunday afternoon, the United States sent a military ship from Virginia with equipment to the planned port. But according to the Pentagon, it may take up to two months before the port can be in use.
The plans for aid shipments by sea are a consequence of the aid shipments on land not working.
Currently, there are only two border crossings where trucks can pass – these are in southern Gaza, while the need for aid is greatest in the north.
The UN’s food program has not sent aid to northern Gaza since the end of January, and at the end of February, the organization made the decision to pause aid because the situation on the ground, according to the UN, was far too chaotic.
This week, however, new attempts were made, but these failed. That’s what Carl Skau, operational manager at the UN Food Program who participates in tonight’s agenda.
– On Tuesday, when we received all the necessary permits, we got stuck in roadblocks and had to turn around, says Skau and continues:
– Since then, we have been refused a couple more times to come through with our convoys.
But why were your trucks forced to turn around?
– We have not received any explanation on that yet, you can ask the Israeli authorities.
Packages via airplane are criticized
In recent weeks, the US and other countries have begun airdrops of aid. Packages of food are dropped by parachutes from airplanes. But the method has been criticized for being ineffective and dangerous, with reports of people dying after being hit by the falling packages.
Waiting for help, it is the children who are hit the hardest, says doctor Ahmad Salem in northern Gaza. Hear his testimony and see the powerful images from inside the hospitals in Gaza in the video above.
More about the famine in Gaza in Agenda at 21.15 in SVT 2 and SVT Play