Under intense international scrutiny, Israel has made efforts this month to expedite the flow of aid into Gaza, but one expert said it was too early to say if the rise in aid could be sustained long enough to avoid a famine.
Israel’s efforts — which include opening new aid routes — have been acknowledged in the last week by the Biden administration and international aid officials. More aid trucks appear to be reaching Gaza, particularly the north.
The increased levels of aid are a good sign, but it is too early to say that looming famine, which experts have warned about for weeks, is no longer a risk, Arif Husain, the chief economist at the United Nations World Food Program, said.
“If we see this progress continue not for weeks, but months, that will help,” Mr. Husain said, adding that the main need was for more food, water and medicine.
“This cannot just happen for a day or a week — it has to happen every single day for the foreseeable future,” he added. “If we can do this, then we can ease the pain, we can avert famine.”
The new moves have come as Israel faces growing international pressure to address the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Aid groups have long complained that only a trickle of aid is entering the enclave, blaming harsh war conditions, strict inspections and limits on the number of crossing points. Israel has said the restrictions are necessary to ensure that supplies do not fall into the hands of Hamas.
Israel announced it would open more aid routes after its prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, spoke with President Biden by phone in early April, in the wake of an Israeli airstrike that killed seven aid workers from World Central Kitchen, a disaster relief organization. Aid has since reached Gaza through new avenues, including a partially functioning border crossing into northern Gaza and the port of Ashdod, around 20 miles north of the enclave.
Infrastructure work is underway to make the northern crossing permanent and to open another one nearby, Shani Sasson, a spokeswoman for COGAT, the Israeli agency that oversees policy for the Palestinian territories and that liaises with international organizations, said.
About 100 trucks a day are now reaching the northern half of the strip via two main crossing points in the south, according to Israeli and American officials, compared with a total of 350 trucks during nearly the whole of March.
Flour shipments from the World Food Program have started to arrive via Ashdod, Mr. Husain said, increasing the scale and efficiency of flour deliveries into northern Gaza, in particular.
Four bakeries reopened in Gaza City this month, in what the Israeli military called a sign of improving conditions. The United Nations shared a video online that showed bags of flour piled high in bakery storerooms and Palestinian children clapping for an aid truck.
In addition, the Jordanian military and government have recently increased the amount of aid arriving in overland convoys, which travel from Jordan through the West Bank and across part of Israel before reaching the southern Gaza border crossings. The Jordanian military carries out its own inspections. Government trucks are inspected by Israel.
A maritime route is also expected to open in the coming weeks, with the United States announcing Thursday that Army engineers had begun construction of a floating pier that could help relief workers deliver as many as two million meals a day. The Israeli military said it would provide security and logistical support for the initiative.
The amount of aid actually reaching Gaza is disputed, with Israel and the United Nations using different methods to track truck deliveries. Israel says the number of trucks entering Gaza daily over the past few weeks has doubled, and a daily average of 400 trucks are now entering the coastal strip, according to Ms. Sasson.
But the United Nations has reported a significantly smaller increase. In the two weeks ending Thursday, the most recent day for which figures were available, it reported an average of 189 trucks entering Gaza each day through the two main crossings in the south of the territory, though the number has fluctuated significantly.
Trucks screened and counted by Israel often enter Gaza only half full, according to U.N. officials, and sometimes it takes longer than a day for trucks to reach warehouses in Gaza, affecting the daily counts.
The U.N.’s top coordinator for humanitarian aid for Gaza, Sigrid Kaag, noted this week that Israel had made efforts to increase the entry and distribution of aid, but called for “further definitive and urgent steps” to meet the desperate need.
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