Israel allowed a small convoy of trucks carrying humanitarian aid to enter from Israel into northern Gaza, marking the first time such an instance has occurred.
Six World Food Programme humanitarian trucks proceeded through the “96th” gate on Tuesday night as a part of a pilot effort, according to Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories.
“This is part of our ongoing efforts to facilitate aid for civilians in and across of Gaza. There is no limit to the amount of aid that can be delivered. Coordinate, and we will facilitate,” COGAT posted on X.
The WFP said it delivered enough food for 25,000 people in its first successful convoy to northern Gaza since Feb. 20. The agency also warned that people still in northern Gaza, a much smaller number than that before the war began, are “on the brink of famine.”
The United Nations and other international health organizations have warned about the possibility of widespread famine, starvation, and disease.
U.S. Central Command leader Michael Erik Kurilla told lawmakers last week that “human suffering is the greatest” in northern Gaza and explained that the population there is now roughly 300,000, much less than the 1.4 million who used to reside there.
“The challenge is the security and distribution internal to Gaza,” he said. “There is no Israeli presence in the north. They’ve predominantly defeated that by getting the distribution of the aid up to there.”
On March 5, the WFP said a 14-truck food convoy was turned away from a checkpoint that would allow it to go north. It was their first attempt to get aid to the north since Feb. 20. The trucks were ultimately rerouted, when they were stopped by a large group of people desperate for aid, who ended up looting about 200 tons of food. A U.N. coordinated convoy was hit by Israeli naval fire on Feb. 5, which prompted an operational pause. Only six U.N. coordinated missions planned to the north were facilitated last month.
“Hunger has reached catastrophic levels in the north of Gaza where children are dying of hunger-related diseases and suffering severe levels of malnutrition,” the WFP said at the time. “A massive relief operation requires more entry points into Gaza, including from the north, and the use of Ashdod port.”
The dire need for aid was on display when more than 100 Palestinians were killed as they converged on an aid convoy. Palestinians alleged Israeli troops opened fire on the group, while Israeli leaders said many were killed in a stampede for the aid and that Israeli forces only fired when they felt endangered by the crowd.
The Israelis have largely let aid into Gaza through two southern crossings, which it has strict control over. Aid officials and other governments have urged Israel to open additional land crossings for more aid, specifically in the north.
Officials have said getting aid into Gaza by land is the most efficient pathway.
The U.S. military has carried out nine airdrops of aid into Gaza that include hundreds of thousands of meals. Several other countries have carried out similar efforts.
Biden, during his State of the Union address last week, announced that he had directed the military to build a port in the Mediterranean Sea off Gaza’s coast to facilitate additional aid. It will take up to two months for the military to build the port and roughly 1,000 U.S. troops.
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U.S. defense officials have said once it’s operational, the port could allow for the distribution of up to 2 million meals daily. It remains unclear, however, who will then take the U.S.-provided aid from the shore through the strip.
“We’re continuing to plan and coordinate with partners in the region,” Pentagon spokesman Patrick Ryder said. “As for aid distribution, we’ll have more details in the future, but we are coordinating with ally and partner nations, the U.N., and humanitarian NGOs on the way ahead for distribution of assistance into Gaza.”
