The UN said on Tuesday that while aid trucks have been allowed to enter the Gaza side of the Kerem Shalom border crossing, its teams have been unable to access and distribute the shipments.
“Today, one of our teams waited several hours for the Israeli green light to access the Kareem Shalom area and collect the nutrition supplies. Unfortunately, they were not able to bring those supplies into our warehouse,” said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric.
“So just to make it clear, while more supplies have come into the Gaza Strip, we have not been able to secure the arrival of those supplies into our warehouses and delivery points,” he added.
Dujarric said that only four trucks of baby food were dropped off on the Gaza side of the border on Monday, and a few dozen trucks of flour, medicine, and other basic goods entered Gaza on Tuesday.
Dujarric’s comments came as Tom Fletcher, the UN’s humanitarian chief, warned that 14,000 babies could starve to death “within the next 48 hours” if aid doesn’t reach them. Fletcher described the difficulty of the UN distributing aid due to the continued Israeli military operations in Gaza.
“We run the risk of looting. We run the risks of being hit as part of the Israeli military offensive. We run all sorts of risk trying to get that baby food through to those mothers who cannot feed their children right now because they’re malnourished,” Fletcher said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu first announced on Sunday that Israel would allow a “basic” amount of food to enter Gaza and has since made clear that he took the step to ensure continued US support for his genocidal war. Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich also said allowing “minimal” aid deliveries would help Israel achieve its goal of “destroying” Gaza.
