CAN AID REACH GAZA?
At the outset of the war, Israel imposed a total blockade. Gradually it allowed in aid, first through a pedestrian checkpoint from Egypt, then also through a nearby road checkpoint from Israel itself.
Israel says it imposes no limits on food and humanitarian supplies, but aid agencies and donor countries say cumbersome Israeli inspections mean shipments can be held up for weeks, and only a fraction of the 500 trucks a day Gaza once relied on can get through. Supplies that cross are difficult to distribute or transport because of lawlessness with civil authorities dismantled.
Israel says it is now opening up additional land checkpoints and allowing air drops and sea deliveries. But Gaza has no proper seaport, and aid agencies say air drops are small-scale and dangerous. These is still no land route into northern Gaza where conditions are worst.
IS GAZA EXPERIENCING FAMINE?
Nearly. A famine has three stages – severe shortage of food, leading to pervasive malnutrition, and ultimately mass death from starvation and disease. The Integrated Food-security Phase Classification (IPC) global hunger monitor says Gaza has already surpassed the first two criteria – food shortage and malnutrition – and mass death will begin “imminently” without an immediate aid surge. It projects famine by May.
The IPC has said for months that Gaza is experiencing the most pervasive food insecurity it has ever seen. In a report in March it said 100 per cent of Gazans were experiencing severe food shortages, and for half of the population – far exceeding the 20 per cent rate associated with famine – this had reached the highest level, category 5 or “catastrophe”.
In southern Gaza, where Reuters journalists operate, some residents have resorted to feeding their children boiled leaves. Reuters saw a number of children being treated for acute malnutrition in a hospital in Rafah, while conditions are reported to be far worse in the north.
Israel says the IPC report’s methodology is flawed and claims that there is no shortage of food in Gaza. It blames any hunger on aid agencies’ operations and on militants it says are hoarding food.
In addition to hunger, aid agencies worry about a lack of health care and sanitation. There are no fully functional hospitals left in the north, and only a handful in the south. Israel has repeatedly raided and besieged hospitals, saying Hamas fighters use them as bases, which medical staff deny.
Overcrowding fosters the spread of disease, and many people have little or no access to a sanitary toilet or place to wash.
WILL ISRAEL ATTACK RAFAH?
With half of Gazans now crammed into Rafah, residents say there is no place left to flee. Israel says the main Hamas armed units and commanders are sheltering there, and a ground assault is needed to defeat them. It has promised to coordinate with Egypt and to evacuate civilians further north inside Gaza, giving few details.
Washington has called the planned assault a mistake and says Israel can target militants with tactics that would cause less harm to civilians. The United Nations says an assault on Rafah would cause a humanitarian catastrophe. Many Palestinians say they fear Israel’s ultimate aim is to drive them from Gaza into Egypt, which Israel denies.
