For the first time in many weeks, food assistance reaches northern Gaza. Families of Israeli captives demand their release

Food-filled relief convoys arrived in northern Gaza this week, according to Israeli authorities on Wednesday. This is the first significant supply to the beleaguered, remote region in a month, where the United Nations has issued a dire warning about the rising famine among hundreds of thousands of Palestinians due to Israel’s operation.

As the U.S., Egypt, and Qatar attempt to broker an agreement between Israel and Hamas for a halt in hostilities and the return of some of the captives abducted by Hamas in its Oct. 7 offensive, the growing concern about hunger across Gaza has fanned worldwide demands for a cease-fire.

Around March 10, when the Muslim holy month of Ramadan begins, mediators aim to come to a consensus. However, Israel and Hamas haven’t agreed on anything in public yet.

The relatives of hostages on Wednesday began a four-day march from southern Israel to Jerusalem to demand the release of their loved ones, placing more pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to find a settlement. Joining the march, which ends close to Netanyahu’s official house, are some of the about 100 captives who were released during a cease-fire in late November.

Israelis are very disturbed by the status of the captives, as many see them as a permanent reminder of the government’s inability to defend its people from Hamas’s attack. According to Israeli police, the Palestinian terrorist organization kidnapped some 250 individuals in its assault on October 7, including men, women, children, and elderly people. There are still roughly 130 captives from the November releases; according to Israel, about 25% of them are dead.

Over 29,900 Palestinians have died as a result of Israel’s onslaught on Gaza, which it claims is intended to eliminate Hamas after it attacks. If Israel carries out its promises to assault the southern city of Rafah, where more than half of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents have sought safety, U.N. experts fear more widespread deaths. Additionally, they claim that a Rafah attack may bring down the assistance effort, which is already severely damaged because to the fighting.

According to the U.N., some 576,000 people in Gaza—a quarter of the population—are only one meal away from starvation. But famine has ravaged Gaza, especially in the north. Since Israeli ground soldiers landed in late October, the north has been shut off and most of it flattened. There are said to be several hundred thousand Palestinians still there, many of whom have resorted to eating animal dung in order to live. One in six children under two in the north, according to the U.N., suffer from acute malnutrition and wasting.

Wednesday saw the entry of a convoy of 31 food-carrying trucks into northern Gaza, according to the Israeli military agency responsible for Palestinian civilian affairs. About 20 more trucks, according to the agency, which goes by the abbreviation COGAT, entered the north on Monday and Tuesday. People were seen lugging flour bags from the distribution location in Associated Press video.

Who made the delivery was not immediately evident. Eri Keneko, a spokesman for the UN’s humanitarian coordination office, denied that the U.N. was engaged.

According to Philippe Lazzarini, the director of UNRWA, the U.N. organization for Palestinian refugees that has spearheaded the relief effort throughout the conflict, as of Sunday, the U.N. has not been able to supply food to northern Gaza since Jan. 23. For the first time in three weeks, the World Food Program tried to bring food to the north on February 18. However, a large portion of the convoy’s cargo was stolen by Palestinians in need while it was on way, so it was only able to distribute a limited quantity in the north. The WFP said two days later that it was stopping supplies to the north due to the unrest.

With the exception of a little amount of help that enters the country via Egypt at the Rafah border and Israel’s Kerem Shalom gate, Israel has prohibited the entrance of food, water, medication, and other supplies since beginning its assault on Gaza in response to Hamas’ offensive on October 7. In recent weeks, the number of supply trucks entering has drastically decreased, despite demands from across the world to bring in more relief.

Israel does not place restrictions on the quantity of help that may enter, according to COGAT on Wednesday. Hundreds of trucks are waiting for relief workers to pick them up on the Palestinian side of Kerem Shalom, according to Israel, which has blamed U.N. organizations for the traffic jam.

In response, U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric reacted on Wednesday, stating that there aren’t enough big trucks entering Gaza and that supplies must be unloaded and reloaded onto smaller Palestinian vehicles due to security concerns. Following Israeli attacks on convoys near the border, police in Gaza ceased to defend the convoys. Additionally, Israel is not coordinating well enough when it comes to security and deconfliction, endangering the lives of humanitarian workers and U.N. personnel.

He remarked, “That’s why we’ve asked for a humanitarian cease-fire so many times.” In order to facilitate delivery and provide secure routes for convoys, the United Nations has demanded that Israel open crossings in the north.

There have already been four children who have passed away from acute starvation and dehydration in recent days, according to the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza.

Due to fuel constraints, Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya said that the hospital would cease operations on Wednesday. “Surgeries, dialysis, acute care, and child care will end. As a result, in the days ahead, there would be more fatalities, he said.

But Gaza is not the only place affected by the shortage of resources. A humanitarian organization called Project Hope, which maintains a clinic in the town of Deir al-Balah in the center, said that in the previous three weeks, it has treated 11% of children under five and 21% of pregnant women who were malnourished.

According to the Gaza Health Ministry, 29,954 individuals have died as a result of Israel’s attack, while 70,325 more have been injured. The ministry reports that women and children made up two thirds of the deceased, but it does not distinguish between militants and civilians.

About 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were murdered by Hamas and other Palestinian terrorists during their offensive on southern Israel on October 7.