The four-day humanitarian pause which came into effect yesterday will do little to improve the dire conditions being endured by 2.3million people in Gaza. While, after seven weeks of near-constant airstrikes, any break in the fighting is to be welcomed, it will be impossible to carry out significant humanitarian work or provide anything more than limited short-term relief in such a narrow timeframe. During the pause, 200 truckloads of aid will be allowed to enter Gaza each day, but this is a drop in the ocean compared to what is urgently required. The deliveries will include 130,000 litres of fuel each day, yet UNRWA says it needs at least 160,000 per day just to keep basic humanitarian operations running. Since the crisis began on October 7, only 1,479 trucks of aid (excluding the recent, very limited, deliveries of fuel) have entered the territory – just a fraction of the 10,000 truckloads it would have received on average per month previously.
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Although the French-led global summit’s push for humanitarian aid to Gaza is welcome, it is not enough to stop the horrific escalations that have claimed more than 10,000 lives in the region, adds ActionAid. The priority should be to push for a ceasefire that would allow for the delivery of adequate humanitarian and medical aid into Gaza in a safe manner. The trickle of aid that has so far been allowed in has not been sufficient for the over two million people who desperately need it.
World leaders should demand an immediate ceasefire in Gaza during an international humanitarian conference for Gaza’s civilian population in Paris on Thursday, says ActionAid.