According to media reports, trucks carrying relief supplies have once again passed through the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip. The UN had previously pushed for further deliveries. Several organizations described the situation in the area as “catastrophic.”
In Rafah, a convoy of 17 trucks apparently crossed the border into the Gaza Strip. Egyptian media reported this. The convoy drove from Egypt into the transit area of the shared border, the Egyptian Red Crescent reported.
The UN had already pushed for further deliveries in advance. According to UN emergency aid coordinator Martin Griffiths, at least 100 trucks of relief supplies are needed every day to supply the suffering civilian population in the Gaza Strip.
20 trucks crossed the border on Saturday. According to the United Nations, however, this is not enough. Their cargo only corresponds to around four percent of the average daily imports before the start of the war with Israel. The UN Emergency Relief Office (OCHA) said it was a “fraction” of what was needed after around two weeks of blockade.
According to the UN, there is hardly any food or drinking water left in the Gaza Strip since Israel stopped supplies following the Hamas terrorist attacks on October 7th. Thousands of chronically ill people and those injured in Israeli rocket strikes need urgent medical care, according to the UN.
Call from several UN organizations
A joint statement from UN agencies including the World Health Organization, the World Food Program and the children’s fund UNICEF said more than 1.6 million people are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance.
“Children are dying at alarming rates and are being denied their rights to protection, food, water and medical care,” the organizations said. They called for a humanitarian ceasefire and immediate unhindered humanitarian access to the entire Gaza Strip. “The humanitarian situation in Gaza was already desperate before the recent hostilities. Now it is catastrophic. The world must do more,” it said.
Impact on mental health
Nina Schöler, who works as a psychologist and psychotherapist for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), also reports on the suffering of the civilian population. “People are already showing a wide range of psychological symptoms during the acute war events. From anxiety, panic attacks, to sleep disorders, nightmares, depressive symptoms,” she told the ARD. Many people have pain symptoms or other problems that cannot be physically explained.
“The people in Gaza have been suffering greatly psychologically from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for decades,” Schöler continued. “Above all, they always live in a state of uncertainty and tension.” An escalation could occur at any time, as can be seen from the development of this war.
With information from Jan-Christoph Kitzler, ARD Tel Aviv