GENEVA: The number of humanitarian aid convoys entering Gaza daily must at least double to meet some of the population’s most basic needs, the World Food Programme (WFP) said on Wednesday.
The United Nations has warned that widespread famine in the Gaza Strip is “almost inevitable” without action. Aid organizations have blamed military operations, insecurity and extensive restrictions to the delivery of essential supplies for the shortage of food in the enclave, which has been devastated by an Israeli offensive against Hamas.
The five-month war has already killed over 30,000 people in the Strip, according to health officials in Gaza.
“I would say that we need to double the level we have now. We are now at around 150 trucks. We need a minimum of 300 trucks a day coming in,” Carl Skau, Deputy Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer at the World Food Programme, told Reuters.
“But of course, that also in the longer run needs to be supplemented with commercial (supplies).”
Before the conflict began in October, Gaza relied on 500 trucks entering daily. Aid can currently be delivered into southern Gaza via the Rafah crossing from Egypt and Kerem Shalom crossing from Israel.
A breakdown of law and order inside Gaza has been a major impediment to aid delivery, as five months of war have destroyed many of the institutions that underpinned social order in the Palestinian enclave.
“The breakdown of civil order is an increasing challenge for us,” Skau said. “There are armed gangs that are roaming, filling that vacuum of security.”
Some convoys have been seized by people seeking food, and any convoys moving into northern Gaza require Israeli coordination for safe passage through checkpoints and areas with fighting.
On Tuesday, WFP’s first mission to northern Gaza since Feb. 20 — a 14-truck food convoy — was turned back by the Israeli Defense Force after a three-hour wait at the Wadi Gaza checkpoint, it said.
Skau said Israeli authorities did not provide a reason for the convoy being turned away.
The WFP said that after the trucks were turned away, they were rerouted and later stopped by a large crowd of desperate people who looted the food, taking around 200 tons.
Skau said he could not predict when the WFP would make a new attempt to deliver supplies to northern Gaza but said the organization was “determined to get there as soon as we can.”
“We have built up the commodities to be able to serve the entire population for three months, and this can be scaled up tomorrow, should the situation allow,” Skau said.
“We will go as soon as we feel that the conditions are acceptable.”
Aid trucks entering Gaza must double to meet basic needs, WFP says
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Aid trucks entering Gaza must double to meet basic needs, WFP says
- The five-month war has already killed over 30,000 people in the Strip, according to health officials in Gaza
US Embassy resumes mechanism meetings ‘at full capacity’
- Next meeting is scheduled for Feb. 25, settling debate in Lebanon over committee’s fate after postponement of January session
- Beirut hopes resumption will allow US to press Israel for concessions in return for commitments to ceasefire security terms
BEIRUT: The US Embassy in Beirut said on Friday that the mechanism committee will meet on Feb. 25 to discuss next steps on Lebanon’s security.
The US-led five-member committee was established in the wake of the Israel-Hezbollah war in late 2024.
In a statement issued jointly with US Central Command, the embassy said that “the military coordination framework, as established in the cessation of hostilities agreement outlined on Nov. 27, 2024, remains fully in place and is operating at full capacity, with the same goals, participants and leadership.”
The embassy also listed upcoming meetings dates for March 25, April 22 and May 20, saying “these engagements will continue to serve as the primary forum for military coordination among the participating parties,” and adding that the mechanism will remain the key platform for such coordination.
A committee meeting had been tentatively scheduled for Feb. 18, but the participating parties did not receive official confirmation from the US.
A Lebanese official told Arab News that the Feb. 25 meeting would be limited to military personnel, with no civilian participation. “The US Embassy’s statement emphasized the participation of all parties, including the French side,” the source added.
The mechanism committee meetings constitute the only approved channel of communication for addressing military issues related to the cessation of hostilities between Lebanon and Israel.
The embassy’s announcement settled the debate in Lebanon over the committee’s fate after the postponement of a meeting scheduled for this month, amid Israeli pressure on Lebanon to convert civil negotiations into bilateral talks with US participation.
A Lebanese official closely following the work conducted by the mechanism committee previously told Arab News that there was “a structural crisis within the mechanism committee, specifically within the US delegation.”
The mechanism committee has held a series of meetings at the Ras Al-Naqoura border crossing. These meetings were described as technical and military in nature, and focused on establishing field communication mechanisms, addressing issues arising from violations, and ensuring continued coordination in line with the terms of the signed agreement. Civilian representatives from Lebanon and Israel were later added to the committee’s meetings.
At the beginning of December, Lebanon appointed former ambassador Simon Karam to head the Lebanese delegation to the Military Technical Committee for Lebanon. Karam attended meetings on two occasions, Dec. 3 and 19, during which he highlighted Lebanon’s demand that displaced residents be allowed to return to border villages as a prerequisite for discussing any economic buffer zone. A meeting scheduled for Jan. 14 was later postponed.
The Lebanese state hopes that the resumption of the mechanism’s meetings will enable the US to secure concessions from Israel in exchange for its commitment to the terms of the agreement to cease military operations, including the withdrawal from positions Israel still occupies inside Lebanese territory.
According to the official source, Lebanon is seeking through this request “to facilitate the next stages of the process of establishing the state monopoly on arms, particularly north of the Litani River.” The source said this followed the Lebanese army’s confiscation of illegal weapons south of the Litani, a step the US welcomed, while Hezbollah has refused to disarm north of the Litani line.
Another official source familiar with previous mechanism committee meetings said that “the Lebanese side stated that Israeli army violations on Lebanese territory provide Hezbollah with a justification to commit to its refusal to surrender its weapons.”
Lebanese army commander Gen. Rodolphe Haykal is scheduled to visit Washington next week, and will present to the Council of Ministers on Feb. 5 the next stages of the army’s plan to confine weapons between the Litani and Awali rivers.
According to the media office at the Presidential Palace, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Gen. Haykal reviewed on Friday the latest security developments in the south, amid repeated Israeli strikes and potential escalation risks along the border.
They also discussed Gen. Haykal’s meetings with US officials to “look into ways to support the army and coordinate on security issues at the border.”
Haykal also met Maj. Gen. Patrick Gauchat, head of mission and chief of staff of the UN Truce Supervision Organization at the command’s headquarters.
On Friday, an Israeli drone strike targeted a car in Seddiqin, Tyre, killing Mohammed Ahmad Youssef, the Lebanese Ministry of Health said.
Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee claimed that the strike was carried out in response to “Hezbollah violations,” accusing the party of “rebuilding itself.”
Israeli reconnaissance aircraft continued to fly over Beirut and its southern suburb throughout the day, in what Lebanon considered a violation of its airspace.
Meanwhile, the Lebanese army conducted armored patrols in the border town of Yaroun on Friday morning, after the Israeli army entered the town on Thursday night.
