Israel’s obstruction of aid doesn’t end at the border

Polygraph | Newsletter n°273 | 24 Oct 2024

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Let’s resolve this discrepancy

The Israeli government says aid is getting into Gaza, but local journalists say no aid is getting to parts of northern Gaza.

^Source

Measuring humanitarian assistance

Here are three questions you can ask to gauge the state of humanitarian assistance provision in Gaza:

1. How much aid crossed the border into Gaza?

2. How much aid from the border reached local distribution centers?

3. How much aid from the distribution centers was delivered to the people?

Many people believe (or want you to believe) that the answers to these questions are the same. In theory, they should be. In Gaza, they are not.

The three questions above represent the final stages of the humanitarian relief chain, and Israel obstructs the provision of relief at all three points. First, the IDF limits the number of aid trucks that can cross the border into Gaza. Second, it restricts the amount of aid that can be safely transported from the border area to the local distribution centers. Third, it delays or denies the delivery of humanitarian assistance from the distribution centers to the areas where it’s needed.

All this to say that the IDF’s obstruction of humanitarian assistance doesn’t stop at the border. As a result, these are three correct answers to the questions listed above:

Q1: How much humanitarian aid crossed the border into Gaza?

A: Not enough, due to Israeli obstruction.

Q2: How much aid from the border reached local distribution centers?

A: Not all of it, due to Israeli obstruction.

Q3: How much aid from the distribution centers was delivered to the people?

A: Only some, if any, due to Israeli obstruction.

Last mile distribution

The final stage of the humanitarian relief chain is called “last mile distribution,” which refers to delivering the aid from local distribution centers to people who need it. Aid groups need permission from Israeli authorities to deliver aid to most places in Gaza. A few things can happen during these “coordinated assistance missions.”

• Israel accepts the aid group’s “facilitation request.”

• Israel accepts the request, but then blocks or delays the mission once it’s underway (sometimes by bombing humanitarian workers), causing the aid group to abandon or only partially complete the delivery.

• Israel accepts the request, but then the aid group withdraws its request, due to security concerns (e.g., Israeli bombardment) or logistical problems (e.g., IDF road closures). These issues prevent aid groups from filing a request in the first place.

• Israel rejects the aid group’s request.

The IDF highlights the number of missions it approves, but includes in that total all the ones it approves but then directly impedes. The chart below eliminates this distortion. It shows that a decreasing share of aid missions are facilitated by Israeli authorities — i.e., approved and not impeded, while an increasing share of humanitarian missions are obstructed — i.e., impeded or denied. Reminder: Israel is doing this while while allowing less and less aid into Gaza in the first place.

The figures below include 70 coordinated aid missions aimed at providing relief to northern Gaza via the al-Rashid checkpoint. Only six percent were facilitated by Israeli authorities. One of the missions Israeli authorities denied was to rescue 40 people trapped under rubble in Jabalia. Another mission denied on October 20 would have delivered life-saving supplies (including blood, anesthesia, medical equipment, and food parcels) to Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia.

^Alt text for screen readers: Israel is obstructing more and more aid missions in Gaza. This graph shows two lines, one representing the percent of humanitarian aid missions that Israeli authorities obstructed versus the percent they facilitated. Since April, the share of obstructed missions has gradually increased to 60 percent. Facilitated missions have declined to 36 percent during the same stretch. Data refer to coordination humanitarian assistance missions. “Obstructed” means the mission was denied or impeded by Israeli forces. “Facilitated” means facilitated. Others were canceled due to security or other reasons. Data: UN OCHA (23 October 2024).

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