Israel's Gaza aid figures show less than a day's worth of supplies delivered this month

Only two per cent of the aid comprised of badly needed medical supplies as hospitals in the north remain under siege

Israeli soldiers gather near a gate of an inspection area for lorries carrying humanitarian aid supplies for Gaza, on the Israeli side of the Erez crossing into northern Gaza. AP

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Aid allowed into Gaza in the first 12 days of October was less than what the territory received daily even before more than a year of war drastically pushed up needs, according to figures released by the Israeli military.

With Israel facing US pressure to bring more aid into Gaza, the military said on Tuesday that it had allowed 9,000 tonnes of humanitarian assistance into the strip this month. The deliveries included “food, water, gas, shelter equipment and medical supplies”, and was also sent to northern Gaza which has been under siege by Israeli forces for nearly two weeks, according to a post on X.

An aid tracker maintained by Cogat, the Israeli military body overseeing civilian affairs in the Palestinian territories, shows that 465 lorries entered the strip from October 1-12, which is less than the 500 lorries that Gaza needed every day before Israeli bombardment devastated the enclave and left the entire population reliant on aid. UN figures show that only 241 lorries of aid entered Gaza in the first 10 days of the month.

The US on Monday gave Israel 30 days to address the humanitarian situation in Gaza or risk a reduction in weapons shipments.

The Jordanian Armed Forces said on Wednesday that 50 lorries carrying food aid went into northern Gaza in co-operation with the World Food Programme (WFP) and Unicef, the UN agency for children. The WFP had previously said northern Gaza was “cut off” from the rest of the strip as two major roads were closed. A UN convoy delivering aid to the north was made to wait for hours before being forced to abort the mission, despite prior co-ordination with Israeli authorities.

Cogat's data also showed that only two per cent of the aid sent in October was medical supplies, despite hospitals struggling to keep up with the number of injured from continuing Israeli bombardment and ground operations.

A Palestinian family arrives in Gaza City after evacuating their homes in the Jabalia area on October 6, 2024, after the Israeli army ordered people to flee the area north of Gaza. AFP

“Dozens” of daily casualties are being brought to the three main hospitals in Gaza's north, said Dr Mohammed Salha, acting director of Al Awda Hospital at the besieged Jabalia refugee camp.

“Many of them need transfer to Gaza city, which we're not able to do under the current siege and conditions. Medical supplies are also running out and we can't keep up with the influx of needs.” Dr Salha said beds were being set up in corridors to accommodate patients.

Dr Salha said he tried to source supplies from hospitals nearby but “their storage rooms were nearly empty and did not have what we needed”.

Food is also scarce, he said. “We have to feed 200 people every day, including our staff, the patients and their families. We cannot sustain this.”

Dr Salha rejected Israel's claims that it had allowed aid lorries into the north.

“We did not hear of such a thing ourselves nor from the organisations we work with,” he said. “This is all false propaganda and a response to US pressure.” Israel's bombing of a UN aid distribution centre in Jabalia on Monday meant that there are “no bodies” to receive any shipments, he added.

Families in northern Gaza who spoke to The National have said that they had reduced their food intake to one meal a day to make sure their remaining supplies would sustain them through the siege and military campaign.

Israel's continuing attacks across the enclave caused at least 65 deaths and 140 injuries in the previous 24 hours, the Gaza Health Ministry said on Wednesday, raising the overall death toll since the war began on October 7 last year to 42,409, with 99,153 injured.

Despite continuing Israeli military operations, the second round of a polio vaccination campaign, aiming to reach more than 590,000 children under the age of 10, began on Monday.

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organisation, said on Wednesday that more than 150,000 children in Gaza received the required second dose of oral polio vaccine in the first two days of the campaign.

“The total number of children who received a second dose of polio vaccine in central Gaza after two days of vaccination is 156,943,” Dr Tedros said on X.