DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza (AP) — The U.N. said Wednesday it was trying to get the desperately needed aid that has entered Gaza this week into the hands of Palestinians amid delays because of fears of looting and Israeli military restrictions. Israeli strikes pounded the territory, killing at least 82 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
Under international pressure, Israel has allowed dozens of aid trucks into Gaza after blocking all food, medicine, fuel and other material for nearly three months. But the supplies have been sitting on the Gaza side of the Kerem Shalom crossing with Israel, and the U.N. has been unable to bring them in further to distribute.
U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the majority of supplies that had entered since Monday had been loaded onto U.N. trucks, but they could not take them out of the crossing area. He said the road that the Israeli military had given them permission to use was too unsafe. Talks were underway for an alternative, he said.
Food security experts have warned that Gaza risks falling into famine unless the blockade ends. Malnutrition and hunger have been mounting. Aid groups ran out of food to distribute weeks ago, and most of the population of around 2.3 million relies on communal kitchens whose supplies are nearly depleted.
At a kitchen in Gaza City, a charity group distributed thin and watery lentil soup.
Somaia Abu Amsha scooped small portions into bowls for her family, saying they have not had bread for over 10 days and she can’t afford rice or pasta.
“We don’t want anything other than that they end the war. We don’t want charity kitchens. Even dogs wouldn’t eat this, let alone children,” she said.
Israeli warning shots shake diplomats in Jenin
Israeli troops fired warning shots as a group of international diplomats was visiting Jenin in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the Israeli military said. It said their visit had been approved, but the delegation “deviated from the approved route.”
Footage showed a number of diplomats giving media interviews as rapid shots ring out nearby, forcing them to run for cover.
At the time, the delegation of about 20 regional, European and Western diplomats was near the entrance of the Jenin refugee camp being briefed by Palestinian Authority officials about the humanitarian situation, said an aid worker who was present.
No one was injured, she added, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal.
The military said it apologized and will contact the countries involved in the visit.
Israeli troops have raided Jenin dozens of times as part of a crackdown across the West Bank against militants since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel that sparked the war in Gaza. The fighting displaced tens of thousands of Palestinians, one of the largest West Bank displacements in years.
Hospitals surrounded
Israeli strikes continued across Gaza. In the southern city of Khan Younis, where Israel recently ordered new evacuations pending an expanded offensive, 24 people were killed, 14 from the same family. A week-old infant was killed in central Gaza.
The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the strikes. It says it targets Hamas infrastructure and accuses Hamas militants of operating from civilian areas.
Israeli troops also have surrounded two of northern Gaza’s last functioning hospitals, preventing anyone from leaving or entering the facilities, hospital staff and aid groups said this week.
The trickle of aid is jammed
Aid groups say the small amount of aid that Israel has allowed is far short of what is needed. About 600 trucks entered daily under the latest ceasefire.
The delays in distributing even that amount pointed to the turmoil in Gaza and increased regulations from the Israeli military. COGAT, the Israeli defense body overseeing aid for Gaza, said trucks were entering Wednesday, but it was unclear if that aid would continue deeper into Gaza for distribution.
After supplies enter at Kerem Shalom, aid workers are required to unload them and reload them onto their own trucks for distribution.
Antoine Renard, the World Food Program’s country chief for Palestine, said 78 trucks were waiting, and the U.N. was talking with Israeli officials “to ensure that we have a safe routing.”
He told The Associated Press that “we need to ensure that we will not be looted” and that “when we do deliver, we use our own network for distribution."
Looting has plagued aid deliveries in the past, and at times of desperation people have swarmed aid trucks, taking supplies.
A U.N. official and another humanitarian worker said the Israeli military had designated a highly insecure route known to have looters. The military also set a short window for trucks to come to Kerem Shalom and rejected a number of individual truck drivers, forcing last-minute replacements, they said. Both spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the press.
COGAT did not immediately respond when asked for comment.
A few dozen Israeli activists opposed to Israel’s decision to allow aid into Gaza while Hamas still holds Israeli hostages attempted to block aid trucks but were kept back by Israeli police.
Pope Leo XIV called for aid to reach Gaza and for an end to the “heartbreaking” toll on its people during his first general audience in St. Peter’s Square.
International pressure on Israel
The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251 others. The militants are still holding 58 captives, around a third believed to be alive, after most were returned in ceasefire agreements or other deals.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has destroyed large swaths of Gaza and killed more than 53,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count.
On Tuesday, the United Kingdom. suspended free trade talks with Israel over its intensifying assault as the U.K., Canada and France promised “concrete” steps to prompt Israel to halt the war. The European Union was reviewing an EU pact governing trade ties with Israel over its conduct of the war, according to its foreign policy chief.
Israel has vowed to continue the war until all hostages are released and Hamas is defeated, exiled and disarmed. Hamas says it is prepared to release the hostages in exchange for a full Israeli withdrawal from the territory and an end to the war. It rejects demands for exile and disarmament.
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Magdy reported from Cairo and Lidman reported from Tel Aviv, Israel. Associated Press writers Farnoush Amiri at the United Nations, Fatma Khaled in Cairo, Sally Abou AlJoud in Beirut and Sam Mednick in Tel Aviv, Israel, contributed to this report.
Wafaa Shurafa, Samy Magdy And Melanie Lidman, The Associated Press
