Great Britain UN emergency aid program: More relief supplies reach Gaza

SDA

24.1.2025 - 05:42

dpatopbilder - A truck carrying humanitarian aid from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) enters the Gaza Strip at the Kerem Shalom crossing from Egypt, a few days after the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas came into force. Photo: Abed Rahim Khatib/dpa
dpatopbilder - A truck carrying humanitarian aid from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) enters the Gaza Strip at the Kerem Shalom crossing from Egypt, a few days after the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas came into force. Photo: Abed Rahim Khatib/dpa
Keystone

Now that the ceasefire in Gaza has come into force, the security situation and the living conditions of the people in the sealed-off coastal strip remain precarious.

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Meanwhile, Islamist Hamas plans to announce the names of the next four hostages today, who are to be released on Saturday in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. Meanwhile, according to a report, Israel is provoking construction work in the buffer zone to Syria.

Aid organizations can expand work in Gaza

According to the UN emergency aid program Ocha, larger quantities of relief supplies are now reaching the suffering population in the Gaza Strip. On Thursday alone, 653 trucks entered the Gaza Strip via the Erez and Zikim border crossings in the north and the Kerem Shalom border crossing in the south, Ocha reported, citing the Israeli authorities and the guarantors of the ceasefire agreement. Before the war, around 500 trucks a day were entering the area with aid supplies.

Within the Gaza Strip, aid workers and relief supplies are now also reaching areas that were previously difficult to access. The general conditions for the work have improved significantly. Aid organizations have been able to significantly expand the provision of life-saving aid and services. The majority of the aid delivered to the Gaza Strip since the ceasefire came into force consists of food. However, more medicines, shelter materials, water, sanitation and hygiene items are also expected to arrive in the coming days.

The humanitarian situation in Gaza was already poor before the war began in October 2023 and has worsened dramatically as a result of Israel's massive bombardment. According to the UN, more than 90 percent of the two million inhabitants of the Gaza Strip suffer from severe hunger. There is also a lack of drinking water, emergency shelters and medicines.

US Secretary of State welcomes delivery of aid supplies

In a telephone call with his Israeli counterpart Gideon Saar, the new US Secretary of State Marco Rubio welcomed the continuation of aid deliveries. He also promised to work tirelessly to free the remaining hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Supporting the civilian population in the sealed-off coastal strip with vital supplies has recently proved difficult. In addition to security concerns on the part of Israel and costly cargo inspections, looting by gunmen has been a major problem.

Reports: Private US security forces deployed in Gaza

According to media reports, private security forces from the USA are now to be deployed to improve the security situation in the Gaza Strip. They are to check vehicles of displaced Palestinians returning from the south of the coastal strip to their original homes in the destroyed north for weapons, as the "New York Times" reported, citing several government officials. Axios also reported on the planned operation, which is due to start in the coming days. It is part of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and the Islamist Hamas brokered by the USA, Egypt and Qatar.

According to reports, the security companies will control the Netzarim Corridor, which divides the Gaza Strip into two halves south of Gaza City. It was previously controlled by Israeli soldiers for months to prevent Palestinians from returning to the evacuated areas in the north.

In the agreement, which came into force on Sunday, it was agreed that Palestinians displaced in the south would be able to return on the seventh day after the ceasefire came into force. "Axios" reported that Israel had demanded during the negotiations that the returnees be checked, which Hamas had rejected.

As a compromise, it was agreed that vehicles would only be allowed to drive north on one road and that the checkpoint would be operated by independent actors. According to Axios, three security companies are involved in the checks, two from the USA and another from Egypt. People making their way north on foot are not to be checked, reported the New York Times.

Situation in the West Bank remains tense

Meanwhile, the Israeli army's operation in the Jenin area in the northern West Bank has been ongoing since Tuesday. It is the most extensive operation in a long time in the city, which is considered a stronghold of militant Palestinians. The already tense situation in the West Bank has worsened significantly since the Hamas massacre on October 7, 2023, which left 1,200 people dead and triggered the start of the Gaza war. Since then, around 830 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli military operations, armed clashes and attacks by extremists, according to the Ministry of Health. At the same time, there has been increased violence by radical Israeli settlers against Palestinian civilians.

BBC: Satellite images of construction work in Israel's buffer zone with Syria

According to the BBC, the Israeli army is carrying out construction work in the demilitarized buffer zone that separates the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights from Syria. The BBC report refers to a new satellite image of the area that was made available to the broadcaster. According to the report, the construction work is taking place in an area that is under UN supervision in accordance with the 1974 ceasefire agreement.

Israel's army had entered the buffer zone after the fall of Syria's ruler Bashar al-Assad at the beginning of December and is apparently considering longer-term control of the area. According to Israel, it wants to prevent armed groups from attacking from the high plateau. The area on this side of the ceasefire line was conquered by Israel during the Six-Day War in 1967 and unilaterally annexed in 1981.

According to the BBC report, the footage from January 21 shows new construction work and trucks in the cleared area. The work appears to have started at the beginning of this year. According to a Middle East expert, four prefabricated guard posts can be seen in the picture. The Arab Gulf states had called on Israel to withdraw from Syria at a summit at the end of December. The occupation is a serious violation of international law.