Palestinian Authority working to increase Gaza aid, says Prime Minister

Mohammad Mustafa acknowledges issues with distribution of supplies and calls for better security for humanitarian teams

Palestinians surge forward to receive meals from a charity kitchen in northern Gaza, as supplies of aid plunge. Reuters

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Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa has laid out plans to increase aid reaching Gaza, saying his government will work more closely with UN agencies and other international organisations.

Increasing aid is vital as Gazans are subject to a “genocidal war” that Israel has “no intention” of ending, said Mr Mustafa in a meeting on Thursday with aid officials and journalists in Ramallah. The occupied West Bank-based Palestinian government aims to increase the number of aid lorries entering Gaza, ensure fairer distribution of essentials and provide better security for humanitarian workers.

“We used to complain about the number of trucks coming into Gaza at the beginning of the war – about 1,000 at the beginning, it went down to 500 or 600, and we thought that was not enough,” Mr Mustafa said. “Now we cannot even think of the 1,000, unfortunately. The number of trucks going in today does not exceed 100 or so, which is a very unfortunate situation.”

The PA, dominated by the Fatah movement, wants to increase co-ordination between its own ministries and also with UN agencies responsible for movements on the ground in Gaza, he added.

Humanitarian agencies have consistently warned of a multitude of barriers to aid deliveries in Gaza, including seemingly arbitrary refusals by the Israeli military to send aid to some areas of the enclave.

Earlier this week, acting UN relief chief Joyce Msuya told the UN Security Council that Israel refused an aid team passage to the Kamal Adwan and Al Sahaba hospitals in northern Gaza nine times before they were finally granted access. “Given the abject conditions and intolerable suffering in north Gaza, the fact that humanitarian access is nearly non-existent is unconscionable,” she said.

Palestinians await the arrival of aid lorries in central Gaza in May. AP

The PA also aims to increase security for aid workers on the ground, Mr Mustafa said. More than 220 workers from the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, have been killed in Gaza over the past year, as well as six Doctors Without Borders staff and other humanitarian personnel.

The killing of seven workers from the international charity World Central Kitchen in an Israeli air strike in April sparked condemnation from world leaders and calls for Israel to ensure better safety for aid workers.

“I think we need to put some efforts into bringing better security arrangements for the aid workers in Gaza,” Mr Mustafa told the meeting.

The Prime Minister acknowledged that there are issues with fair distribution of aid that do eventually make it into the besieged enclave. “I think we all know by now that the distribution system is not effective," he added. "We believe that the aid doesn't necessarily get to the right people, people who need that assistance. “And I think we need to review our experience so far and consider ways and means to improve on this situation.”

He did not detail how the issues he raised would be addressed but told aid organisation representatives that his government invited them to work together to “do more, hopefully more efficiently and more effectively”.

The Palestinian Authority relies on international partners because it does not talk directly to Israel, Palestinian Minister for Social Development Samah Hamad told The National. “As a Palestinian Authority, we cannot really push in any means,” she said in an interview in her office in Ramallah. We are trying through the international community, which needs to take the responsibility and push harder with the UN agencies and states, and to recognise this priority and to increase the trucks and aid.”

Everyone is under pressure. People are starving. The human aspect is huge in Gaza, everybody wants to survive.

Samah Hamad,
Palestinian Minister for Social Development

Women, in particular, are suffering the effects of the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza and cases of domestic violence are increasing, she warned.

“Everyone is under pressure. People are starving. The human aspect is huge in Gaza, everybody wants to survive.”

Her ministry has special tent shelters for women facing domestic violence in the strip, but Ms Hamad said the challenges were enormous. “We want to start identifying those women and kids and then work with what remains of civil society and provide protection services,” she said.

Her ministry’s offices and warehouses in northern Gaza were destroyed in an Israeli attack last week, further complicating their operations in one of the most devastated areas. “We stopped working,” Ms Hamad said.

In response to the recent US warning to Israel that would slow weapons supply if it doesn't allow more aid intro Gaza, the minister said she was “not optimistic”.

The Israeli military has said in recent days that it is working to boost aid to Gaza.

“We are working to increase the amount of humanitarian aid including food, water and medicine that goes into Gaza,” Israeli military spokesman Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a video statement last night, following the announcement that the Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar had been killed.

While the current focus remains on the humanitarian crisis, the PA has established a national team for Gaza reconstruction, with backing from the UN, EU and World Bank, Mr Mustafa explained.

“We know things are not ready for reconstruction today,” he said. “We, like yourselves, are consumed with the humanitarian effort, but it's very important also to start thinking and planning for the reconstruction effort.”