Aid shipments to Gaza have plummeted since Israel began its ground offensive on Rafah. Even earlier, far too few aid transports were able to arrive, but since the beginning of May, the number of transports has halved.
– At that time, about 200 aid trucks per day reached Gaza. Now we get an average of one hundred trucks in a day, says the head of SPR’s international disaster aid Marko Korhonen.
– The number of aid transports is completely insufficient in relation to the need for aid. Grant amounts have dropped by at least half, even two-thirds.
Before the ongoing war, the UN estimated that 500 aid trucks should go to Gaza every day. As Israeli bombings and ground attacks continue, the need is significantly greater, says Korhonen.
Truck queues have disappeared from the Rafah border station. See the change in satellite images. The picture on the left was taken on 5.5. and the picture on the right is 28.5.
Korhonen describes the conditions in Gaza as a humanitarian nightmare. There is a shortage of everything.
– I don’t think the situation can get much worse than that.
Korhonen estimates that the aid situation cannot be improved without a ceasefire.
The relief operation has not been successful
The aid operation in Gaza has not been successful during the almost eight-month war. Korhonen states that it has not only been caused by the international community.
– By their own actions, the warring parties have prevented aid from being received and distributed on the spot. It has not depended solely on the will of the international community. However, this as a whole has not been successful in any case. Unfortunately, it shows in the end result.
This is how SPR’s Marko Korhonen assesses the success of the aid operation in Gaza:
A famine has not yet been officially declared in Gaza, but the food shortage is testing the civilians in a harsh way. Although attention has been focused on Rafah in recent weeks, the situation in northern Gaza is even more difficult.
– It is significantly more difficult to get and distribute relief supplies there than in southern Gaza.
Land transport froze
It is possible to get sufficient water, food, medicine, fuel and other essential supplies to Gaza only by land transport. However, land transport is currently very limited.
An estimated two thousand aid trucks were previously stuck in Arish, located near the Rafah border station on the Egyptian side. The border has been closed since Israel launched an attack on Rafah on May 6.
The Rafah border crossing was the main route for humanitarian aid before Israel launched a ground offensive and took control of the position on the Gaza side.
A significant amount of food aid was spoiled in trucks stuck on the Egyptian side:
Some of the transports have been directed to Gaza through the Kerem Shalom border station in Israel. An average of one hundred aid trucks per day have passed through.
In addition to Kerem Shalom, small quantities of ground shipments have been received to Gaza through Israel’s Erez border post on the northern border of Gaza.
Sea transport is insufficient
Earlier in May, the US military was allowed to build a temporary port in front of Gaza.
On Tuesday evening, the United States had to suspend aid deliveries by sea because the pier was damaged in bad weather. It will take more than a week to repair the pier.
The satellite image on the left was taken on April 18. i.e. just before the pier was built. 19.5 on the right. the picture taken shows the finished pier.
The disintegration of the pier is not of great importance in terms of the whole, Korhonen estimates.
– It doesn’t matter in the overall picture. The amounts of aid that have come from there have been relatively small.
Sea transports have usually only been around five percent of the total amount of grants.
Aid transports have also been transported from Cyprus. Shipping by ship has been difficult because Gaza, which is a sea barrier, has no proper ports.
– Now that a temporary sea transport system is being built, it’s good to remember that you should also be able to build an efficient system for receiving, storing and transporting aid. Its construction is extremely slow, especially when there is an active combat situation around all the time.
Airdrops are dangerous and chaotic
Aid drops from airplanes have caused tragic accidents and chaotic situations in Gaza. Aid organizations consider airdrops not only ineffective, but also dangerous.
In March, 12 Gazans drowned while trying to retrieve aid packages dropped into the sea. At the same time, six were trampled to death in the resulting chaos.
Watch the video of the airdrop of aid packages in Beit Lahia from the chaos in northern Gaza:
People have also died under fallen aid boxes when the parachutes have failed. Fights have arisen in connection with airdrops and only the strongest have been able to get hold of the dropped food.
Korhonen says that air transport does not solve problems.
– It’s a pretty inefficient operation and it’s very dangerous, especially in such a densely populated area. It has no significance in terms of the amount of aid supplies as a whole.
– When there are 20 tons of goods in one truck, there might be 10 or 20 tons in one air drop. The need would be 500 times.
Gaza has about 2.3 million inhabitants. They are not helped by air transport.
– I think feeding such a number of people with airdrops is just a fantasy.
“Protecting and helping civilians is not a matter of opinion”
Israel has said during the conflict that it will allow aid to Gaza.
SPR’s head of international disaster aid, Marko Korhonen, does not assess Israel’s willingness to allow aid transports to Gaza.
– I do not take a position on that as a representative of the Red Cross. The most important thing for us is that the parties to the war follow the agreed rules.
– It is good to remind that protecting and helping civilians is not a matter of opinion. According to international law, the parties must comply with it. Unfortunately, in this case it doesn’t always happen for both parties.
Israel has struck aid targets several times. At the end of May, Israel struck a tent camp near Rafah and dozens were killed.
Korhonen states that the probability of civilian casualties is very high in Gaza, because the war is being fought among civilians in a small area.