‘Drop in the ocean’

Twenty trucks carrying aid crossed into Gaza yesterday, the first convoy of humanitarian supplies since Israel began a devastating siege 12 days ago and after further heavy Israeli bombardment overnight that killed dozens of Palestinians.

The flatbed trucks, flying white flags and honking their horns, exited the crossing after checks and headed into Gaza's southern area which includes the major towns of Rafah and Khan Younis where hundreds of thousands of people made homeless by Israel's unrelenting air war are sheltering.

Palestinian officials were disappointed that fuel supplies were not included in the consignment of food, water, and medical supplies and added that the aid was only 3% of what used to get into Gaza before the crisis.

"Excluding the fuel from the humanitarian aid means the lives of patients and injured will remain at risk. Gaza hospitals are running out of the basic requirements to pursue medical interventions," the Gaza health ministry said.

'DROP IN THE OCEAN'

Most of Gaza's inhabitants depend on humanitarian aid. The heavily urbanised and widely impoverished territory has been under Israeli and Egyptian blockade since Israel unilaterally withdrew from the enclave in 2005.

Israel has told all civilians to evacuate the northern half of Gaza, which includes Gaza City. Many people have yet to leave saying they fear losing everything and have nowhere safe to go given that southern areas have also been bombarded.

Some said the aid arriving on Saturday was too little to make a difference.

"This is a drop in the ocean. You are trying to show the world that you are bringing aid. This is throwing dust in the eyes," said Nabil El-Dhaba, a resident of the Shejaia district in Gaza City who has been displaced to Deir Al-Balah in the southern Gaza Strip.

Israel's "total siege" of Gaza, launched after the Oct. 7 cross-border attack on southern Israel by militants of the Islamist movement Hamas, has left the enclave's 2.3 million people running out of food, water, medicines, and fuel.

The United Nations said the convoy, which included life-saving supplies, would be received and distributed by the Palestinian Red Crescent with the consent of Hamas, which rules Gaza.

UN officials say at least 100 trucks daily are needed and that any aid operation must be sustainable at scale - a tall order with Israel carrying out bombardments day and night that have wrecked entire populated districts.

Before the outbreak of conflict, an average of about 450 aid trucks were arriving daily in Gaza.