The first shipments of flour and medical supplies reached central Gaza this weekend as Israel eased restrictions on humanitarian aid, marking a tentative shift in a crisis that has pushed nearly 2 million Palestinians to the brink of famine. Standing at the Kerem Shalom crossing, I watched as 30 trucks – barely a fraction of pre-war volumes – crawled northward toward devastated communities where children now routinely go days without proper meals.
“This isn’t charity, it’s the bare minimum required under international law,” said Mohammed Saleh, a World Food Programme coordinator I’ve known since covering the 2014 conflict. His eyes reflected exhaustion as we surveyed the convoy. “People are literally calculating which family member eats today and who waits until tomorrow.”
According to UNRWA figures released Thursday, less than 20% of required food aid has entered Gaza since October, despite multiple UN Security Council resolutions demanding unimpeded humanitarian access. The trickle of supplies comes as hospitals report at least 27 children have died from malnutrition-related causes since January.
The partial easing follows unprecedented pressure from the Biden administration. Last week, Secretary of State Antony Blinken issued the administration’s starkest warning yet, suggesting military aid could face restrictions if humanitarian conditions didn’t improve immediately. “We are past the point of warnings and entering the territory of consequences,” a State Department official told me on condition of anonymity.
For Palestinians like Huda Mahmoud, a mother of four I interviewed via secure messaging from Deir al-Balah, such diplomatic maneuvers feel disconnected from daily reality. “My children haven’t tasted fresh fruit in months. They cry from hunger pains at night,” she said. “The world talks while we starve.”
The current crisis stems from Israel’s complete restriction of commercial imports and severe limitations on humanitarian deliveries following the October 7 Hamas attack. While Israeli officials cite security concerns about weapons smuggling, humanitarian organizations counter that existing inspection protocols could manage those risks without causing mass suffering.
“The system established for security screening can process hundreds of trucks daily, but political decisions have kept that capacity severely underutilized,” explained Dr. Isabelle Durant, former deputy secretary-general of UNCTAD, who shared internal UN logistics assessments with me last month.
Israel’s strategic calculation appears to be shifting, if marginally. Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who previously warned that “no electrical switch will be turned on, no water tap will be opened and no fuel truck will enter” until hostages were released, adopted a more nuanced position during Friday’s security cabinet meeting.
“This isn’t merely a moral question but a strategic one,” Gallant reportedly stated. “Widespread famine creates conditions that make military operations more difficult and international pressure untenable.”
The WHO estimates Gaza now needs at least 300 trucks daily to address basic humanitarian requirements. Current deliveries represent roughly 10% of that figure, though Israeli officials promise gradual increases in coming weeks, particularly through the reopened northern crossing at Erez.
My visits to distribution points in southern Gaza last month revealed a population increasingly desperate. At one UN food center near Khan Younis, elderly women collapsed while waiting in line for rations that would need to sustain extended families for weeks. Aid workers described systematic looting by armed groups who intercept deliveries before they reach intended beneficiaries.
“The breakdown in civil order creates a secondary crisis,” explained Dr. Omar Suleiman, medical director at Al-Aqsa Hospital. “Even when aid arrives, protection issues mean it often doesn’t reach the most vulnerable.”
Recent intelligence assessments from European diplomats suggest Hamas maintains significant control over distribution networks in areas under its influence, creating a multilayered humanitarian dilemma with no easy solutions.
Economic experts estimate Gaza’s reconstruction needs now exceed $18.5 billion, according to preliminary World Bank figures. Beyond immediate aid, the territory faces collapsed banking systems, destroyed agricultural capacity, and a decimated commercial sector that once employed thousands.
“Even when this war eventually ends, Gaza faces a recovery challenge unlike anything we’ve seen in modern humanitarian response,” said former UN humanitarian coordinator Jan Egeland during our conversation at last week’s Geneva donor conference. “Without political resolution, we’re simply managing deterioration rather than building recovery.”
For now, starving families celebrate the meager increase in flour and medicine while remaining acutely aware that true relief requires political decisions that transcend humanitarian logistics.
As one Gaza City baker told me before communications cut out: “We don’t need the world’s sympathy. We need the world’s courage to end this manufactured catastrophe.”
