More than a month and a half has passed since the ceasefire was established in Gaza. As part of the agreement, 600 trucks were scheduled to enter the Strip each day loaded with food, medicine, tents, fuel and other basic necessities.
We have become accustomed to official statements that hundreds of trucks cross the border every day. Photos will be published, crosswalks will be carefully recorded and celebratory announcements will be made.
“Since the start of the ceasefire, 4,200 trucks carrying humanitarian supplies have entered Gaza every week. 70% of the trucks that entered were carrying food…More than 16,600 trucks carrying food have entered Gaza since the start of the ceasefire. More than 370,000 tons of food,” a November 26 update from the Israeli occupation authorities claims.
Some might think that the Palestinians of Gaza are the best-fed people in the world.
For many of us, it is not clear how Israel counts “food trucks.” In fact, many commercial trucks are allowed to carry food with low nutritional value, such as chocolate bars and biscuits, or foods that are too expensive, such as frozen chicken that costs $25 a kilo or trays of eggs that cost $30.
Humanitarian groups also appear to have doubts about the official tally. According to the World Food Program, only half of the food aid needed is going to Gaza. Palestinian relief agencies say only a quarter of the aid needed is actually received.
And only a small portion of that actually reaches the displaced, the poor, the injured, and the hungry. This is because much of the aid that reaches the Gaza Strip ends up in the Bermuda Triangle.
The distance between the border and the shelters where aid is distributed may appear short on a map, but in reality it is the longest distance from a political and security perspective.
Yes, there are many trucks going around, but the supplies never reach the families who need them most.
People hear about trucks, but they don’t see humane packaging. They hear about tons of flour, but they don’t see any bread. They’ve seen videos of trucks entering the Strip, but they haven’t seen any trucks coming into their camp or neighborhood. It feels as if the aid supplies just entered Gaza and disappeared.
Lately, there’s been a lot of talk about the lack of aid on the streets. Especially since basic food items suddenly appeared on local markets with labels that read “Not for Sale for Humanitarian Aid” still attached. I’ve seen canned chicken with this label on sale for $15 each.
Even when aid parcels reach the poor, they often lack the promised goods. For example, the food parcel my family received was supposed to contain rice, lentils, and six bottles of cooking oil, but when we opened it, there was no rice or lentils, and there were only three bottles of cooking oil.
This is not just a corruption issue. After two years of genocidal war, Gaza’s governance has collapsed and its institutions have been systematically targeted by Israeli forces. There is no unified authority, no force capable of providing security and security.
According to the United Nations aid monitoring agency, 8,035 aid trucks arrived at destinations in Gaza between May 19 and November 29. 7,127 people were “intercepted” either “peacefully” or “forcibly”.
The Israeli military has placed restrictions on the roads that trucks can travel on, forcing them to take often dangerous routes. Some roads cannot be used without coordination with local influential families or neighborhood committees, while others are controlled by armed groups. This makes traveling tens of kilometers a very fragile process that is easily interrupted. Aid supplies thus disappear into Gaza’s Bermuda Triangle.
International organizations are also unable to strengthen security. They can’t accompany the truck because it’s dangerous, they can’t supervise the unloading in real time, and they don’t have enough staff to keep track of every shipment. Their reliance on local committees and volunteers means they rely on a porous system that is easily exploited by various parties.
In this context, one big question remains. The question is, who really benefits from the loss of aid?
Some merchants are looking for a quick profit. Local armed groups seek funding. And, of course, there are the occupying forces and their allies who want to continue to use starvation as a means of political pressure. They all benefit from the suffering of ordinary Palestinians.
The problem here is that there has been less interest in what is happening in Gaza since the ceasefire. People around the world are relieved that the genocide is over and no longer ask why aid is not reaching the Palestinian people.
Meanwhile, in policy and political circles, the disappearance of aid is becoming the norm, as if it were a natural outcome of conflict. But that’s not the case. It is an engineered crisis intended to be yet another kind of collective punishment against the Palestinian people.
As the world once again turns a blind eye, it’s not just the trucks that are disappearing in Gaza’s Bermuda Triangle, but also the strength of the Palestinian people, who keep moving forward.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial policy.
