Agencies prepare to bring aid to starving people in Gaza as ceasefire appears to hold | Israel-Gaza war
As the ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas appears to continue, aid agencies are preparing to deliver large amounts of vital aid to starving people in Gaza this weekend.
“We have received signals that tomorrow will be the day of scale-up [in aid deliveries] “It’s starting in earnest under the ceasefire,” said Tess Ingram, a spokeswoman for Unicef, the UN children’s agency.
“The risks are really high,” Ingram said by phone from Gaza. “Despite the ceasefire – which means a halt to the bombing – the humanitarian crisis continues. We still have a famine to fight and diseases are spreading, so we really need this ramp-up to happen quickly and efficiently.”
Ingram said Unicef is calling for all crossings from Israel to Gaza to be reopened so trucks can move quickly “without delay or hindrance.”
Another UN aid agency, Unrwa, said it had stored enough food to feed every Palestinian in Gaza for three months. Communications director Juliette Touma said on Saturday that aid distribution was “absolutely critical in controlling the spread of the famine.”
Tens of thousands of tons of materials are being positioned in neighboring countries such as Jordan and Egypt. According to the first phase of the agreement, aid is planned to reach Gaza, and humanitarian groups are preparing to send approximately 600 truckloads of food and medical supplies per day.
During the war, Israel closed entry and exit routes and largely blocked food and medicine, causing famine in most of Gaza.
Aid agencies hope Israel will now stick to Trump’s 20-point plan, which says aid entry and distribution into the Gaza Strip must “proceed without interference.”
On Saturday, Italy’s defense minister said the Rafah crossing, an important departure point for people as well as aid trucks between Gaza and Egypt, would reopen on Tuesday. Israel took control of the border post last year.
Guido Crosetto said that Rafah “will be opened alternately in two directions: exit to Egypt and entrance to Gaza.”
As the UN returned to its leading role in humanitarian aid, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a US- and Israel-backed private contractor program, also appeared to be coming to an end. The program was widely condemned for forcing people to go to food distribution sites where they were shot in large numbers by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). A UN official called it a “sadistic death trap”.
It is hoped that the ceasefire will stop the famine, enable the release of hundreds of prisoners and put an end to daily Israeli bombings that often decimate families. On Friday, tens of thousands of Palestinians displaced in Gaza began returning to the ruins of their homes after Israeli troops withdrew to agreed-upon new positions. More than 500,000 people have returned to Gaza City since the ceasefire, according to the Gaza civil defense agency.
Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff was in Gaza on Saturday to observe the redeployment of the Israeli army, Israel Army Radio reported, citing a security source.
Still, there are concerns that the deal could fall apart if the pressure does not continue.
Previous ceasefires had failed and Israel’s attack on Lebanon early on Saturday sparked fears of fresh violence at a tense time. Lebanon’s health ministry said pre-dawn airstrikes hit a building selling construction vehicles, killing one person and wounding seven others.
The Israeli military claimed to have hit a site where machinery to be used to rebuild the infrastructure of the militant group Hezbollah was stored.
The agreement reached this week under US leadership aims to gradually end the current war by delaying major issues such as the disarmament of Hamas and the clause pledging Israel not to “occupy” Gaza.
According to the agreement, Hamas is obliged to release all Israeli hostages in Gaza within 72 hours of the start of the ceasefire, that is, on Monday morning. Israel will release 250 Palestinians who spent long periods in its prisons and 1,700 Palestinians who were captured during the war and held without charge.
Israel’s prison service said on Saturday that it had begun transferring prisoners from various detention centers to two prisons before their release.
The list, published on the Israeli government’s official website on Friday, did not include the names of several well-known Palestinian prisoners, including popular politician Marwan Barghouti.
Supporters of the 66-year-old say Israel fears his ability to force effective change and unite Palestinians; many see him as a Nelson Mandela-style figure.
Senior Hamas official Musa Abu Marzouk told the Al Jazeera TV network that the group was insisting on the release of Barghouti and other high-profile figures and was holding talks with mediators.
