UNICEF: Humanitarian aid surge into Gaza still not happening despite ceasefire

Despite the recent ceasefire agreement aimed at facilitating a massive humanitarian relief effort in Gaza, UNICEF says the expected influx of aid has yet to materialise.

Tess Ingram, a spokesperson for UNICEF currently on the ground in Gaza, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that although the agency is fully prepared to deliver assistance, critical conditions for aid distribution are not yet in place, Caliber.Az reports. 

"We’re really hopeful that this ceasefire will mean that aid will increase in meaningful volumes because that’s what the children of Gaza so desperately need and have been waiting so long for, we’re currently not seeing that happen yet," said Ingram.

According to the terms of the first phase of the Gaza deal, around 600 trucks loaded with humanitarian supplies are supposed to enter the Strip daily from October 10, when the ceasefire took effect. However, Ingram emphasised that these volumes have not begun to flow.

"We’re really looking for that to happen today, tomorrow hopefully," she said, noting that key logistical barriers remain. "What’s needed for that to come to fruition is for all of the crossings to open into the Gaza Strip, for those crossings to operate effectively so that we can move trucks through quickly, and then we need the operating situation on the ground... to be able to deliver that aid."

UNICEF, along with other UN agencies, has supplies ready and waiting just outside the Gaza Strip.

"We’re ready, we’ve got 1,300 trucks outside as UNICEF and our UN partners have many more," said Ingram. "We just need those conditions in place to begin that surge in aid."

By Sabina Mammadli