Aid freeze sends humanitarian groups scurrying in Gaza

Jerusalem: Israel’s cutoff of food, fuel, medicine and other supplies to Gaza’s 2 million people has sent prices soaring and humanitarian groups into overdrive trying to distribute dwindling stocks to the most vulnerable.

The aid freeze has imperiled the tenuous progress aid workers say they have made to stave off famine over the past six weeks during Phase 1 of the ceasefire deal Israel and Hamas agreed to in January.

After more than 16 months of war, Gaza’s population is entirely dependent on trucked-in food and other aid. Most are displaced from their homes, and many need shelter. Fuel is needed to keep hospitals, water pumps, bakeries and telecommunications — as well as trucks delivering aid — operating.

Israel says the siege aims at pressuring Hamas to accept its spinoff ceasefire proposal. Israel has delayed moving to the second phase of the deal it reached with Hamas, during which the flow of aid was supposed to continue. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that he is prepared to raise the pressure and would not rule out cutting off all electricity to Gaza if Hamas doesn’t budge. Rights groups have called the cutoff a “starvation policy.”

Two days in, how is the cutoff impacting Gaza on the ground? There’s no major stockpile of tents in Gaza for Palestinians to rely on during the aid freeze, said Shaina Low, communications adviser for the Norwegian Refugee Council. The aid that came in during the ceasefire’s first phase was “nowhere near enough to address all of the needs,” she said.

The UN food agency said it only has enough food supplies in the Gaza Strip to keep public kitchens and bakeries open for less than two weeks, after Israel’s move.