GENEVA: The UN World Food Programme said on Tuesday that supplies into Gaza were ramping up after the US-brokered ceasefire but were still far short of its daily target of 2,000 tonnes because only two crossings are open, and none to the famine-hit north of the enclave. Around 750 metric tonnes of food are now entering the Gaza Strip daily, according to the WFP, but this was still well below the scale of needs after two years of conflict between Israel and Hamas that has reduced much of Gaza to ruins. "To be able to get to this scale-up, we have to use every border crossing point right now," WFP spokesperson Abeer Etefa told a Geneva press briefing.
She said only two of the Israeli-controlled crossings into Gaza were operational - Kerem Shalom in the south and Kissufim in the centre. The ceasefire plan brokered by US President Donald Trump envisages "full aid" being sent into Gaza. An Israeli security official said that humanitarian aid continues to enter through the Kerem Shalom crossing and additional crossings in accordance with the plan, without naming them. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt will remain closed until further notice, with its reopening dependent on Hamas handing over the bodies of deceased hostages.
The UN children's agency spokesperson, Ricardo Pires, said on Tuesday the humanitarian response was still far below the required scale and called for all entry points to reopen. Some nutrition supplies for children and pregnant women have reached the north via the south, Etefa said, but far short of the level required. "We haven't had large-scale convoys into Gaza City or to the north of Gaza," she said, adding that WFP had not been granted permission to use the main north-south Salah al Din road.
Food supplies delivered so far are enough to feed around half a million people for two weeks, she said. Many Gazans were storing the food they are receiving because they are afraid that supplies might again dry up. "They eat part of it, and they ration and keep some of the supplies for an emergency, because they are not very confident how long the ceasefire will last and what will happen next," she said.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump threatened Hamas on Tuesday with "FAST, FURIOUS & BRUTAL" force if it does not "do what is right" as he pushes for the next, more complex, stage of a Gaza ceasefire that has already been repeatedly tested. Increasing the pressure on the Palestinian group, Trump said in a social media post that numerous US allies had said they would welcome the chance to go into Gaza and hit Hamas but he had told them and Israel "not yet". Israel and Hamas have accused each other of repeated breaches of the truce since it was signed eight days ago, with flashes of violence and recriminations over the pace of returning hostage bodies, bringing in aid and opening borders.
Trump's plan called for the establishment of a technocratic Palestinian committee overseen by an international board, with Hamas taking no role in governance. A Palestinian official close to the talks said Hamas encouraged the formation of such a committee to run Gaza without any of its representatives, but with the consent of the group as well as the Palestinian Authority and other factions. — Reuters
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