Desperately needed aid arrives in Gaza after ceasefire, but demand outstrips supply

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On a recent day in Gaza, Rosalia Bollen was at an aid distribution site, watching as parents lined up patiently to receive boxes of winter clothing for their kids.

Ms. Bollen, a spokesperson for UNICEF, the United Nations agency that works to protect the rights of children, said the parents were grateful, but still feel desperate and abandoned after 15 months of war, during which little aid reached them.

Desperately needed aid is beginning to arrive in Gaza after a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas came into effect on Jan. 19. UNICEF brought in more than 350 trucks in the first week of the agreement.

Before the ceasefire, only approximately 50 trucks were getting into Gaza daily, from all aid agencies working in the region. Despite the uptick, aid workers say the needs far outpace the support coming in. Under the terms of the truce, at least 600 trucks a day are supposed to deliver essential supplies to Palestinians.

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Ms. Bollen said that before the ceasefire agreement, people often fought over supplies. One of UNICEF’s offices is opposite a bakery and nearly every day over the course of months staff would see hundreds of people, including children, fighting over a loaf of bread. At the end of November, she said, three people were killed when a crowd trampled them while they were trying to get bags of bread.

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The goods arriving so far include water bottles, gallons of drinkable water destined for hospitals, hygiene kits for families and adolescent girls, nutrition supplements, tarpaulins for shelter and children’s winter clothes. She said the needs are staggering.

“It’s not just been the violence, the airstrikes that have killed children and their families, it’s also the living conditions that have put the lives of children at risk,” she said.

Ms. Bollen said hospitals, which had also come under attack, lack every type of supply, including syringes, gauze and pain medication. And meanwhile, disease is spreading.

When Ms. Bollen steps outside of UNICEF’s compound, the landscape before her is one of rubble, sand, garbage and open sewage.

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She sees kids who aren’t properly dressed for the cold, many barefoot and covered in dirt, looking for anything they might be able to eat, burn to stay warm or play with. And many children are also sick.

There needs to be a substantial improvement of the living conditions across all areas from sanitation to shelter, she said, adding that kids don’t have access to proper meals or clean water.

“There’s no end to their suffering, really, most children are very miserable.”

She said the private sector also has an important role to play. For instance, UNICEF is bringing in specialized supplies such as protein biscuits and therapeutic foods, but people need to be able to go to the market and buy items such as meat and vegetables.

“Humanitarian aid in general is meant to supplement the market. Humanitarian aid is not envisaged, is not intended to keep an entire population alive, definitely not a population over two million persons.”

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Alexandra Saieh, the head of humanitarian policy and advocacy for Save the Children, who based in Amman, said that a key difference to distributing aid now is that workers are no longer trying to work under Israeli bombardment. However, there is still “a mammoth of challenges.”

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Ms. Saieh said Save the Children has not been able get to their trucks in but hope to this week. And while the airstrikes have stopped, Gaza is littered with unexploded bombs.

She said many of the roads are damaged or destroyed, and aid agencies alone simply can’t meet the needs. Another challenge is that not all of the crossing points are open, such as the Rafah border crossing.

Meanwhile, everyone is afraid the agreement won’t hold. “In Gaza, people are hopeful that it will remain, but everyone that I have spoken to, including in the West Bank, is scared about what comes next.”

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Myriam Abord-Hugon, Humanity and Inclusion’s regional director for the Middle East, who is also based in Amman, said her organization has been supporting people with post-traumatic care, physical rehabilitation and training other NGOs to ensure they have inclusive practices for persons with disabilities.

They also undertake risk education, teaching people about the remnants of bombs that have not exploded and what to look out for.

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Ms. Abord-Hugan said since the ceasefire agreement took effect last week, they have had trucks coming in, calling it a “life-changing event for everybody there.”

They have brought in support for mobility such as crutches, wheelchairs, bandages and medical support equipment. The lack of such items has meant that someone who could have walked with a crutch has been unable to do so for months, aggravating their injuries.

“It’s quite a dramatic event because things that could have been brought in on time is now almost too late.”