Aid route closure worsens food shortages in famine-hit northern Gaza
CAIRO: Since Israel shut a vital corridor into famine-stricken northern Gaza before escalating its ground offensive this month, community kitchens and health clinics have closed and flows of food have slowed, residents and UN agencies said (Sept 26).
The Zikim Crossing was shut on September 12, days ahead of Israel’s ground offensive on Gaza City in the north of the territory, prompting warnings from aid agencies.
Since then, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) told Reuters it had not managed to bring any supplies through Zikim, which previously carried half its food deliveries into Gaza.
The number of daily meals served as aid in northern Gaza dropped to 59,000 as of September 22 from 155,000 on August 30, as some kitchens serving free meals shut, according to Amjad Al-Shawa, head of the Palestinian NGOs Network, and UN data.
GAZANS SAY FOOD IS SCARCER
Residents say conditions are worsening. Hundreds of thousands have been displaced by the latest offensive, though others have stayed despite Israeli evacuation orders, citing fears about security and hunger if they move.
"The situation is becoming more difficult," said Um Zaki, a mother of five in Gaza City’s Sabra district, describing rising food prices and growing scarcity. "People who sell things like food have left to the south," she said.
Ismail Zayda, a 40-year-old with a week-old baby and two young boys, said his family was surviving on canned food in a camp near the coast. "There are no vegetables at all," he said.
Gaza City municipality also reported a worsening water crisis, with supplies meeting less than 25 per cent of daily needs. Fuel shortages and security risks have further curtailed deliveries.
ISRAEL SAYS AID IS ENTERING
Israel says there is no quantitative limit on food entering Gaza and accuses Hamas, which it has fought for nearly two years, of diverting supplies — accusations the group denies.
COGAT, the Israeli military unit that oversees aid, said humanitarian shipments to northern Gaza continue and that it is working to triple the capacity of the Kissufim crossing into central Gaza.
It said around 300 aid trucks, mostly carrying food, have entered Gaza daily in recent weeks, with fuel also coordinated for water wells and desalination facilities. Asked about reopening Zikim, it said entry would be facilitated "subject to operational considerations".
The UN, however, said distributing aid remains difficult. The WFP cited congestion on the only road north, while the UN’s humanitarian office OCHA said Israel denied 40 per cent of requested movements to northern Gaza in the 10 days after Zikim’s closure.
"Zikim being closed makes famine, to those who are left behind, even more deadly," said Ricardo Pires, spokesperson for UN children’s agency UNICEF in Geneva. "Children are literally wasting away in front of our eyes while the world normalises their suffering."
A global hunger monitor last month confirmed famine in Gaza City and warned it could spread, a finding Israel disputes.
HEALTH FACILITIES SHUTTING DOWN
Treatment for malnutrition is increasingly scarce. The World Health Organization said four health facilities in Gaza City have shut this month, while the UN said some malnutrition centres have also closed.
Hospitals in southern Gaza cannot absorb more patients. Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah is at capacity and lacks medicines, supplies and fuel, spokesperson Khalil al-Dakran said.
Mass displacement from the north is also straining food stocks in Khan Younis and Deir al-Balah, which the WFP warns are at risk of famine.
