🔗 Share this article

While the Rafah crossing with Egypt becomes operational this week, humanitarian organizations confront significant difficulties providing assistance to the northern region, the region hardest impacted by starvation, specialists report.

Transportation Issues

Key roads are almost impassable due to extensive devastation across the conflict-affected area – or are still occupied by Israeli forces. Any truck that breaks down is probably will be quickly plundered.

The main entry point, the main entry point to the north, damaged by 24 months of war, has been shut down for multiple weeks, and government representatives have informed aid groups in Gaza that there are no short-term arrangements to reopen the crossing, per reports from aid workers.

Devastation in Northern Gaza

The northern urban center was the objective of a significant armed campaign initiated in August that was still under way when the temporary truce was finalized last week.

Devastation in the northern area has been widespread, with whole settlements including urban centers and neighboring towns in destroyed as well as many of the surrounding regions of the urban center.

"Any operation of a crossing into Gaza is welcome, but we need to make sure we can access populations where they are," commented a policy expert from a humanitarian organization.

Relief Circumstances

Local residents said many of the approximately 300,000 people who have gone back to the northern region from the overcrowded coastal zone where they had been sheltering during the armed conflict were now "staying" among the destruction of their homes, often without any housing and with scarce food or water.

An official from a humanitarian body said the devastation in northern Gaza was "overwhelming".

"It is neighborhood after neighborhood, structure after structure ... there is extreme need for water. Conditions are severe. We need every border point open," the representative, who was in the northern city recently, stated.

Limited Entry

A community leader working from the urban center said the necessities in what used to be the region's bustling commercial and cultural hub were "overwhelming".

"There is hope and optimism but there needs to be quick improvement on the border points. We didn't witness any significant change on the ground yet," the director stated.

"We continue to receive a very limited amount of support [and] we are now commencing to grasp the extent of destruction. Numerous roads are overwhelmed by debris ... there is hardly any residence that is secure. There is damage and unexploded ordnance across the region."

Recent Developments

In recent days, relief groups said modest volumes of necessary propane came into Gaza for the first instance in multiple months, along with shipments of grain products, cereal and fresh vegetables. The new supplies sent commercial prices tumbling.

At a mid-region location, a community member said there had been certain progress since the ceasefire.

"Commercial areas are stocked with products, produce, and fresh fruit, although the costs are still high and not accessible for all people," the resident said.

Colder Months Requirements

"The primary requirements now, particularly given the approach of winter, are to have a shelter to protect us from the low temperatures and warm garments because the shops do not have adequate garments for us or, if they exist, they are scarce and extremely pricey."

Nine UN-supported bread-making centers in various locations have resumed functioning since the peace agreement.

Support Delivery

Vehicles were stated to have come through the humanitarian corridor through Israeli territory to Gaza during recent days, though specific quantities were uncertain.

Israel's public broadcaster reported that recent assistance transports would include nutritional supplies, treatment resources, petroleum products, propane and materials to repair crucial facilities.

"Assistance resources continues to enter the Gaza Strip through the border access point and other crossings after safety verification," an military representative said.

Allocation Challenges

But counting the quantity of vehicles could be misleading, cautioned an expert from an international NGO. "It's crucial to understand what is in the trucks and their capacity levels for it to be a really meaningful indicator," the official added.

Business entities are dispatching convoys of transports loaded with chocolate, soft drinks and light food, which have little nutritional value, while critical care for young people or individuals who have been without sufficient nutrition for two years are limited.

Treatment Status

Within the northern urban center, only few nutritional outpatient clinics are operating, compared with numerous in July.

Numerous organizations have significant funding of humanitarian goods stockpiled in the region waiting to go in. An international organization working with the population across the region for decades has multiple months of supplies of nutrition for all residents ready to be transported.

"We have the supplies, the equipment and the skills ... we just need the access," said a humanitarian staff member, recently returned from Gaza.

Political Considerations

A diplomatic framework specifies that "complete" support should enter Gaza and be provided through the UN and humanitarian networks, without disruption from either combatant organizations or government forces.

This likely prohibits the disputed government-supported humanitarian organization which began operations in earlier this year, resulting in chaotic scenes and multiple fatalities as crowds of aid-seekers gathered around its aid locations.

Aid officials in Gaza {told|informed