View Gaza’s chaos in new aid system internally

After the collapse, in early March, temporary Ceasefire Between Israel and Hamas, Israel has basically closed all assistance into the Gaza Strip. The territory has faced Humanitarian crisis Nearly 18 months. During this period, Israel allowed volatility, almost always insufficient aid trucks. The food and medicine that arrived at these trucks were then distributed on the street by local groups. In May, when the full blockade was partially lifted—after European leaders, and even the Trump Administration, warned of starvation—the old system of aid delivery, which was operated in part by the United Nations, was largely phased out in favor of a new organization called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which was set up in coördination with Israeli authorities to deliver supplies to Gazans at just four locations.

Before the GHF began operations, the United Nations and many humanitarian groups warned that the new system would lead to chaos, and people were forced to travel long distances to get aid, which could lead to dangerous crowds and violence. In fact, over the past few weeks, Israeli troops have killed dozens of Gazans at these locations and caused hundreds of injuries as deaths have exceeded one hundred and twenty people seeking GHF aid. (Israel has admitted to shooting warnings and fired at those who ignored them.) The opaque decision structure of the GHF has changed its leadership and temporarily shut down operations to re-estimate its procedures. GHF said at one point last weekend that it was no longer working due to threats to Hamas employees. (Hamas denied the allegation and GHF resumed operations the next day.)

I recently spoke to Salma Altaweel over the phone, who lives in Gaza and works for the Norwegian Refugee Council, a humanitarian NGO and I want to understand how her organization handles the new aid system and that it has changed on the ground since it was in place. In our conversation, edited for long and clarity, we also discussed how she talked to her daughter about the current situation, concerns about GHF and what she needed outside Gaza.

Can you tell me what your job is now and what your day is like?

Yes. I work as a field office manager in northern Gaza. [Someone begins talking to her in the background.] Sorry, this is my daughter. sorry. Now, we are working in hibernation mode due to the ceasefire crash. It is difficult to move in Gaza. But we are still providing support to people. We are providing drinking water to many people in the middle of the city. We are providing clothing to hundreds of families with electronic vouchers. People don’t have enough cash to buy goods, so we’ve been providing vouchers to families in need. We arrange with certain suppliers and then the beneficiaries will receive codes that can be used to redeem clothes. We also have some learning space to provide informal education for children. In addition, we have a legal department that is providing some legal support and providing advice.

How to enter drinking water?

There are still some plants in Gaza City working to provide drinking water. Trucks are moving around, heading to shelters and providing water to people inside and outside. We are covering a lot of people. And there are other NGOs. They are all working together to try to cover much of Gaza.

I know that even before the lockdown began in early March, the people of Gaza did not have enough aid. But there is some help. Can you talk about how aid under this system reaches Gazans?

Before the ceasefire collapsed, UN agencies and international non-governmental organizations were working to seek assistance. Not all items are allowed to enter Gaza, but as you mentioned, some items are entering. Trucks will cross the border and aid will enter warehouses of UN agencies and NGOs, each local organization has its identification standards that can provide assistance to people. People are receiving text messages so they can collect it dignifiedly from the warehouses of UN agencies or NGOs without the crowd. Additionally, aid will reach different communities, and people will not be forced to trek or go to unsafe places to collect food, shelter items or sanitation kits, or anything they are allowed to take. These amounts aren’t enough to cover people all the time, but at least some food is coming in. Bakeries also play a role at some point – not always, but sometimes there are bread.

Then, in March, Israel announced that there would be a total cutoff for aid. How quickly did things happen?

Many bakeries after March remained running for a month after a month, but closed in early April, and since then, most stocks from the market have been empty. So by May, we are facing real hunger. People didn’t eat for a few days because nothing was in. They recovered some items, but it wasn’t enough.

After the launch of the new aid system, what has your organization done by a humanitarian foundation in Gaza? And what is happening more widely? The story we read in the United States is that people have to go to these few sites to get food, which is obviously confusing. Israeli troops shot and killed people. Your organization is trying to run in this new system, do you think the new system doesn’t work?

I just want to say that over the past few weeks, relocation orders have been issued and covered most of Gaza. The NRC specializes in providing shelters, where people are forced to move elsewhere without having to carry shelter with them. In most cases, people are forced to escape from their own things. Usually, people will only give away a few minutes. Therefore, they are in great need of items like tents, bedding and clothing. They move without any items because they can’t do it. They found themselves on the street with nothing. We are working to support them, but unfortunately the items in the shelter have not been passed – until now, Israel only allows certain items such as food and medicine. The United Nations is trying to get approval for asylum items, but we cannot support people sleeping on the streets without shelter.

Therefore, it is important to be clear that the relocated people are relocating because the Israeli army ordered them to move, wasn’t it because they wanted to eat food when they moved?

Yes, they are getting relocation orders due to military operations.

What do you and your organization tell people about getting aid and getting food? Are you giving them instructions to reach the nearest facility where they distribute their food?

No, we didn’t give them any such instructions. We are trying to support them as much as possible, but we cannot give them directions to those areas. They are so risky. They kill people every day in these areas. These areas are inhumane. Humanitarian principles have not been applied. Therefore, we will not guide anyone there.

So, for obvious reasons, because of the way aid is distributed, and because people are killed in these distribution locations, aren’t you telling people to try to get close to these sites in any way?