logo
How much aid has made it into Gaza since Israel said it was easing restrictions?

How much aid has made it into Gaza since Israel said it was easing restrictions?

NBC News3 days ago
Israel announced last Sunday it would pause military activity in some areas to allow more aid into Gaza following international outrage over widespread starvation and deaths from malnutritioncaused by the Israeli military's offensive and aid restrictions.
But humanitarian organizations say the amount of aid that has entered the enclave is not enough, and without more food, growing numbers of Palestinians will die from hunger.
NBC News takes a look at how much aid has entered Gaza in the week since Israel announced the new system, and how that stacks up to the needs of the population.
A tally of aid
Humanitarian aid is currently entering Gaza in three ways: airdrops, distribution by the U.S.- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, and by the United Nations and other aid organizations using the newly formed 'humanitarian corridors' the Israeli military put in place last week.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which began distributing aid in the enclave in late May, has been widely condemned for the hundreds of people killed, often by Israeli soldiers, near its aid sites, and for its limited distribution.
Last Sunday, GHF distributed around 1 million meals and at least another 1.2 million from Monday to Wednesday, and 1.3 million on Thursday. GHF did not appear to publish the number of meals distributed on Friday, but on Saturday said it released at least 1.7 million meals.
In a population of roughly 2 million people, this averages out to around half a meal to just under a full meal per person per day.
COGAT, the Israeli military branch responsible for overseeing aid into Gaza, allowed an average of around just under 230 trucks into Gaza each day from last Sunday to Thursday, according to data it has published online. It says those trucks add to 'hundreds' already in the enclave awaiting collection from aid groups, but has not shared the exact number. COGAT did not respond to a request for more information on the total number of trucks awaiting collection.
At least 920 aid trucks allowed into the enclave had been collected and distributed by the United Nations and other humanitarian organizations from last Sunday to Thursday, according to COGAT's data.
Before Israel's offensive in Gaza began, around 500 trucks carrying aid were entering Gaza daily, according to the British Red Cross and other organizations.
The below graph shows how the amount of aid entering Gaza soared during the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, before stopping during Israel's blockade, with only a trickle entering in the months after it was lifted.
Asked for the number of trucks allowed into Gaza and collected by humanitarian groups on Friday and Saturday, COGAT did not immediately respond.
While COGAT has shared information on trucks entering Gaza and being collected by aid groups on its social media pages over the past week, it has not updated its online dashboard on aid into Gaza since Monday, despite international focus on the matter.
According to the World Food Programme, only about two-thirds of the amount of food the U.N. organization has requested Israeli authorities allow into Gaza had been approved as of Thursday since the Israeli military began tactical pauses.
How Israeli restrictions caused the hunger crisis
The hunger crisis in Gaza drastically worsened in March after Israel imposed a blockade barring the entry of aid into Gaza, in the midst of its ceasefire with Hamas.
Israel lifted the crippling blockade in May, but for months, has only allowed a limited amount of aid to enter the enclave, most of which has been distributed by the U.S.- and Israel-backed group known as the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
COGAT did not immediately respond to a request for comment from NBC News on the accusation that the amount of aid entering Gaza is not enough. It has previously accused humanitarian groups, including the United Nations, of exacerbating hunger by failing to collect and distribute aid to Palestinians fast enough.
However, humanitarian organizations have said efforts to distribute the limited aid they've been able to get into Gaza has been hampered by Israeli restrictions. They've also emphasized that even after Israel vowed to lift some restrictions last Sunday, the amount of aid entering the enclave remains limited.
Meanwhile WFP has said it needs faster approvals and clearances to move trucks inside Gaza safely, as well as for Israeli military members to adhere to the 'established rules of engagement,' including having no armed presence or shooting near humanitarian convoys, food distributions and operations.
What is needed?
'This is not an adequate response,' Jeanette Bailey, the International Rescue Committee's global practice lead and director of research for nutrition, said in a phone interview on Wednesday.
A gradual entry of aid 'here or there,' she said, 'is not going to be adequate to prevent us from entering into a full-blown famine where the numbers of deaths go way, way up.'
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Terrible thirst hits Gaza with polluted aquifers and broken pipelines
Terrible thirst hits Gaza with polluted aquifers and broken pipelines

USA Today

time8 hours ago

  • USA Today

Terrible thirst hits Gaza with polluted aquifers and broken pipelines

GAZA/CAIRO, Aug 6 (Reuters) - Weakened by hunger, many Gazans trek across a ruined landscape each day to haul all their drinking and washing water - a painful load that is still far below the levels needed to keep people healthy. Even as global attention has turned to starvation in Gaza, where after 22 months of a devastating Israeli military campaign a global hunger monitor says a famine scenario is unfolding, the water crisis is just as severe according to aid groups. Though some water comes from small desalination units run by aid agencies, most is drawn from wells in a brackish aquifer that has been further polluted by sewage and chemicals seeping through the rubble, spreading diarrhoea and hepatitis. More: Netanyahu meets security officials as Israel considers full Gaza takeover COGAT, the Israeli military agency responsible for coordinating aid in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories, says it operates two water pipelines into the Gaza Strip providing millions of litres of water a day. Palestinian water officials say these have not been working recently. Israel stopped all water and electricity supply to Gaza early in the war but resumed some supply later though the pipeline network in the territory has been badly damaged. Most water and sanitation infrastructure has been destroyed and pumps from the aquifer often rely on electricity from small generators - for which fuel is rarely available. COGAT said the Israeli military has allowed coordination with aid organisations to bring in equipment to maintain water infrastructure throughout the conflict. Moaz Mukhaimar, aged 23 and a university student before the war, said he has to walk about a kilometre, queuing for two hours, to fetch water. He often goes three times a day, dragging it back to the family tent over bumpy ground on a small metal handcart. "How long will we have to stay like this?" he asked, pulling two larger canisters of very brackish water to use for cleaning and two smaller ones of cleaner water to drink. His mother, Umm Moaz, 53, said the water he collects is needed for the extended family of 20 people living in their small group of tents in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. More: Israel says it will allow controlled entry of goods into Gaza via merchants "The children keep coming and going and it is hot. They keep wanting to drink. Who knows if tomorrow we will be able to fill up again," she said. Their struggle for water is replicated across the tiny, crowded territory where nearly everybody is living in temporary shelters or tents without sewage or hygiene facilities and not enough water to drink, cook and wash as disease spreads. The United Nations says the minimum emergency level of water consumption per person is 15 litres a day for drinking, cooking, cleaning and washing. Average daily consumption in Israel is around 247 litres a day according to Israeli rights group B'Tselem. Bushra Khalidi, humanitarian policy lead for aid agency Oxfam in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories said the average consumption in Gaza now was 3-5 litres a day. Oxfam said last week that preventable and treatable water-borne diseases were "ripping through Gaza", with reported rates increasing by almost 150% over the past three months. Israel blames Hamas for the suffering in Gaza and says it provides adequate aid for the territory's 2.3 million inhabitants. QUEUES FOR WATER "Water scarcity is definitely increasing very much each day and people are basically rationing between either they want to use water for drinking or they want to use a lot for hygiene," said Danish Malik, a global water and sanitation official for the Norwegian Refugee Council. Merely queuing for water and carrying it now accounts for hours each day for many Gazans, often involving jostling with others for a place in the queue. Scuffles have sometimes broken out, Gazans say. Collecting water is often the job of children as their parents seek out food or other necessities. "The children have lost their childhood and become carriers of plastic containers, running behind water vehicles or going far into remote areas to fill them for their families," said Munther Salem, water resources head at the Gaza Water and Environment Quality Authority. With water so hard to get, many people living near the beach wash in the sea. A new water pipeline funded by the United Arab Emirates is planned, to serve 600,000 people in southern Gaza from a desalination plant in Egypt. But it could take several more weeks to be connected. Much more is needed, aid agencies say. UNICEF spokesperson James Elder said the long-term deprivations were becoming deadly. "Starvation and dehydration are no longer side effects of this conflict. They are very much frontline effects." Oxfam's Khalidi said a ceasefire and unfettered access for aid agencies was needed to resolve the crisis. "Otherwise we will see people dying from the most preventable diseases in Gaza - which is already happening before our eyes." (Reporting by Ramadan Abed in Deir al-Balah, Gaza, Nidal al-Mughrabi in Cairo and Olivia Le Poidevin in Geneva; writing by Angus McDowall; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)

A Palestinian home kitchen reopens in Watts with falafel and fundraisers for Gaza
A Palestinian home kitchen reopens in Watts with falafel and fundraisers for Gaza

Los Angeles Times

time9 hours ago

  • Los Angeles Times

A Palestinian home kitchen reopens in Watts with falafel and fundraisers for Gaza

Mid East Eats — a popular falafel pop-up turned private dinner service — is now open as a fast-casual destination for homestyle Palestinian cuisine with an L.A. edge. It's also the first legally permitted home kitchen in Watts. Sumer and Andrew Durkee's nearly 700-square-foot home on Grape Street has a white banner stretched across the front gate, with blown-up photos of pita wraps, rice bowls, tacos and nachos topped with falafel. Enter the front yard, outfitted with a few tables, and maybe one of the home cooks will greet you, if they're not busy wrapping burritos or throwing meat on a grill. Business has kicked up since the Durkees relaunched Mid East Eats three weeks ago. The restaurant initially began as a private dinner service in February, when Sumer and Andrew offered Palestinian feasts in a decorated tent on their front lawn. For the July 12 opening, the pair added halal chicken and beef shawarma to their largely vegan menu — think fast-casual food like Shawacos (corn tortillas filled with shawarma, cilantro-lime hummus and feta) alongside dishes like the El Jifnawi falafel wrap, named after Sumer's father's Palestinian village, and the West Bank burrito, with fresh fries like the wraps served by street vendors in Ramallah and Jerusalem. From the ages of 9 to 12, Sumer and her family lived in Jifna — a village outside the West Bank city of Ramallah, where she and her brother went to school. The Maryland native recalls living through the Second Intifada, a Palestinian uprising against Israeli military occupation, which began in 2000. 'My brother and I saw a lot of terrible things just by crossing the checkpoint to get to school in the city,' Durkee said. 'When they would close the checkpoints, we'd have to travel over the hills. … We've been shot at.' For Durkee, being able to serve Palestinian food in L.A., sometimes to local Palestinians, is bittersweet. As an entire generation of Palestinian children suffer irreversible damage from starvation and malnutrition, Durkee grapples with her role and platform as an owner-operator of a Palestinian restaurant. A week after reopening Mid East Eats, she announced that she would stop posting pictures of her restaurant's food on Instagram until Israel ended its blockade of food aid into Gaza. 'It feels insensitive to hold a grand opening during these times, but the time has come to open consistent business hours. Mid East Eats is our only source of income,' read an Instagram post from the restaurant. 'Our grand opening is dedicated to all oppressed communities. We need each other more than ever now.' Before it opened as a microenterpise home kitchen operation (MEHKO) in Feburary, Mid East Eats got its start as a pop-up last summer. The Durkees served dishes like falafel tacos at events across L.A., sometimes up to five per week. It's the same food they now serve in Watts, where many residents live more than half a mile from the closest supermarket, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Access Research Atlas. 'I wanted to make food more accessible to our neighborhood — Watts is a bit of a food desert,' said Sumer, whose bubbly personality and warm hospitality has helped the restaurant maintain a flow of customers. 'There's a lot of fast food … there's no Mediterranean, Middle Eastern or Palestinian food.' Mid East Eats is one of the greater L.A. area's roughly 150 MEHKOs, thanks to a state program that was passed in 2018 and was implemented in L.A. County last November. It allows residents to cook and sell food out of their homes and plans to subsidize 1,000 home businesses through June 2026. MEHKOs are limited to serving up to 30 meals per day and 90 meals per week, with no more than $100,000 annual gross sales. Since its pop-up days, a common thread throughout the Durkees' business has been advocacy for Gaza. Many of the pop-ups Mid East Eats attended were fundraisers for families in Gaza, along with other causes such as local wildfire relief. The restaurant's reopening, which featured a few local vendors, raised money for two local community organizations and $100 for a family in Gaza. On the last weekend of July, Mid East Eats fundraised with sales of its West Bank burrito, donating $400 to two other families in Gaza. 'We [donate] direct to families that are unable or too far away from aid distribution,' Sumer said. 'Unfortunately, they have to buy food at inflated prices, so that's why I try to focus on rotating families.' Mid East Eats is best known for its herbaceous falafel, which Sumer stuffs with mint, cilantro and parsley. While she doesn't use an exact family recipe, Sumer said that it 'comes from my soul,' and tastes like the falafel her aunt would make. She and Andrew also take pride in cooking with olive oil made by a Palestinian family in Garden Grove. Vanessa Guerra, a loyal customer who discovered Mid East Eats through a fundraising falafel-making class the Durkees held last year, has no problem driving from her home in Northridge to Watts for falafel. 'They're amazing people — if someone needs help, they're there to help you,' said Guerra, whose great-grandfather is Palestinian, of the Durkees. 'I'm not just paying for the food. I'm paying for the service, everything. … It's very home-like. It's like going to your mom's house.' Open the Durkees' front gate to find tomato plants growing along the fence. To the left is another table accompanied by fig and lime trees. Next to the house, a young watermelon plant, and in front of it, the colorful tent where the couple formerly held private dinners for $95 per person. 'I really wanted to do the Palestinian experience — I wanted people to come over, feel like they're at home, come sit on the ground,' Sumer said. 'Back in the village, we would sit on the floor and eat. Most modern-day Palestinians don't do that anymore, but we did … I wanted to have that vibe, and I wanted to cook traditional food.' Though the Durkees have paused the private dinners until mid-August to focus on their fast-casual service, it remains a core aspect of Mid East Eats, according to Sumer. Now, for $195 per person, diners will sit inside the tent on colorful cushions around a circular wooden table, feasting on a selection of mezze and mint lemonade followed by Sumer's maqlubeh, or fragrant rice flipped upside down, revealing a layer of eggplant, cauliflower and tomatoes. 'When we do the private dinners, what I really focus on is the foods that we really eat back home — the stuffed grape leaves, stuffed cabbage, stuffed zucchini,' Sumer said. 'It's important to me to preserve my culture through food.' The Durkees continue to support both families in Gaza and their Watts neighbors however they can — which, after the reopening, most often manifests as falafel wraps and forearm-length shawarma burritos bursting with garlic toum, tahini and Andrew's homemade jalapeño sauce. 'Of course I'm gonna fight for Palestinian liberation. These are my people,' Sumer said. 'I want to bring people here, and I want them to come and experience that Palestinian hospitality, and that is important to me — to show people that we are humans.' Mid East Eats is open in Watts on Thursday through Sunday from noon to 9 p.m. 9613 Grape St., Los Angeles,

I'm 85 and looking for work but no one will hire me. I just need to pay the bills — I'm an old girl, but I'm not a dead girl.
I'm 85 and looking for work but no one will hire me. I just need to pay the bills — I'm an old girl, but I'm not a dead girl.

Business Insider

time11 hours ago

  • Business Insider

I'm 85 and looking for work but no one will hire me. I just need to pay the bills — I'm an old girl, but I'm not a dead girl.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Pat Fagin Scott, an 85-year-old woman who lives in Washington, DC. Despite working in the corporate world and for the US government, she hasn't been able to find a job recently, believing her age has hindered her from landing anywhere. She needs to work to supplement her retirement income. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. I was born and raised in Washington, DC, and attended Howard University. My first job was teaching because I wanted to be an assistant principal. I did my practice teaching at a junior high school. It was an awful job, and I needed to get out of there. I got an offer to be a guide at the United Nations, stayed there for 13 years, and became a guide supervisor. I then got jobs in the corporate world, advertising, and the film industry. I worked for Dustin Hoffman, the Urban Institute, and the DC government. Business Insider's '80 over 80' series draws on interviews with more than 100 people who are part of the growing group working past their 80th birthdays. They discussed their careers, retirement planning, living expenses, healthcare, and life lessons. If you are 80 and older and still work, fill out this form to contribute to the series and read more here: What work looks like in your 80s for half a million Americans 81 and working to survive Meet the 90-somethings with lessons to share on life, work, and money How these 80-somethings are stitching together work, savings, and Social Security to get through the month The anti-aging secret these 80-somethings swear by: work In 2017, I retired from the DC Housing Authority after 16 years. I didn't feel that I needed to retire, but I felt pressure to. I'm now struggling to support myself on my retirement income and am looking for more work. I moved to DC after a stint in New York I married an actor in New York, which kept me in the city, but my father died in DC, so I came back in 1973. At that point, I was married with a two-year-old, and my marriage was starting to go south. I found a great apartment in Northwest DC for my daughter and me. We lived there until I bought a detached home nearby, and that's where I've been for the last 47 years. It has five bedrooms and three bathrooms, which I don't need. I've been looking for smaller quarters, but most senior places don't have washers and dryers in the units, which is a dealbreaker for me. When you retire, you're often not going to get enough to survive when the cost of living keeps increasing every year When I retired, I was making over $150,000 a year. My family borrowed money from me, but it didn't hurt me. I had a 401(a), a defined-contribution plan, through which the company offered to contribute a percentage of my salary every payday. I also had a 457(b), an educational annuity. I was told that if I didn't contribute to the 401(a), I would still get what the employer contributed. The money, though, was ultimately not mine. Social Security and a pension are not enough to live comfortably on I get $2,500 a month in Social Security and another $2,500 a month from the government, plus a small annuity for essentials. I just took out a reverse mortgage because it's still not enough. Social Security comes on the third Wednesday of the month, and the pension comes at the end of the month. I have to wait for both to pay my bills: gas, electricity, water, groceries, car insurance, car note, and anything else I might deem necessary. My granddaughter racked up $6,000 in speeding tickets that I'm going to pay. I'm trying to set up a payment arrangement for that. There are so many things going on in my life that it's like a boat that is gathering water. Every time I plug up a hole, another hole comes. I'm sinking, but I'm not sinking fast enough to drown yet. My shopping has been modified tremendously. I buy a lot more vegetables and fruit. I don't eat out unless I'm invited. I don't have to go to the cleaners to get clothes cleaned because I don't go to work. I need a rainy day fund because appliances go bad. I have some plumbing issues that I can't take care of because I don't have the money to pay a plumber. I don't water the grass at all, and I can't afford a new car tire. I've done some volunteer jobs but nothing paid since I retired I've been job hunting on and off ever since I retired. I've found there's discrimination when you get older — nobody wants to hire you because of your age. I've applied for many jobs through Indeed and LinkedIn, tried connecting with people online, and gotten a few interviews. One time, I interviewed for a university desk job and thought I was really good for that, but I was informed there were other candidates who were more suited for the job. That was one of the first times that I felt my age made a difference. I even applied to join the Army, but I found out there was an age ceiling. My only "work" is volunteering at the Hillwood Estate, Museum, and Gardens in Washington, DC. When people in this world find old people who have the ability to move and are of sound mind and body, it feels like they so badly want to kill you off. Who the hell are you who has survived all these years and still functions like a normal human being? Didn't we tell you to die when you stopped working? If you stopped working in 2017, what are you still doing around in 2025, talking about work? At one point, I stopped applying after not getting any follow-ups I've had a very successful career, and I've got good credentials, but all you have to do is do the math to see I'm not a 30-year-old. I'm an old girl, but I'm not a dead girl. I avoid putting my age on my résumé. I stopped submitting a résumé unless they ask because as soon as they add up the years, that job is no longer available. The positions I've been applying for are mostly sedentary. They're receptionist, file clerk, and concierge positions — nothing that involves heavy lifting or analytical thinking. I'm physically fine I don't walk with a cane, I'm not in a wheelchair, and I'm not on a walker. My brain cells are perfectly healthy. I'm a breast cancer survivor, and I was first diagnosed 35 years ago. In 2021, my right breast showed cancer, but it was in the very early stages. I had the in and out surgery, and then it was followed by radiation for two weeks. I'm doing fine, aside from the elements of old age that are plaguing me. Everything is working as it should. I see my doctors on a regular basis. I see nothing in my future except staying as healthy and busy as possible. I don't want to fall into sedentary mode. Financial information and guidance ought to be required in schools The reality in America is like mine, unless somebody has talked to you about money, which my parents didn't. During the Howard University commencement last year, the speaker said if you put 10% of what you earn to the side every year from the time you begin earning (and projected earnings start around $60,000 to $70,000), with an interest rate of 2% or 3%, you'll have $2.5 million when you reach 62. I jumped out of my seat, hearing that. If I had known that, I wouldn't be where I am right now. What we need as a country is to prepare our young people for a time in our lives when they may not be earning an income from a job, but they will be earning an income if they invest properly in dividends and annuities. If they want to have money, the opportunity is there. Just put it away and sit on it.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store