{"id":312594,"date":"2026-02-02T12:00:58","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T12:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=312594"},"modified":"2026-01-27T19:23:38","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T19:23:38","slug":"despite-ceasefire-israels-siege-allowing-only-a-trickle-of-aid-into-gaza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2026\/02\/despite-ceasefire-israels-siege-allowing-only-a-trickle-of-aid-into-gaza\/","title":{"rendered":"Despite Ceasefire, Israel\u2019s Siege Allowing Only a Trickle of Aid into Gaza"},"content":{"rendered":"

Palestinians report a dire lack of healthy food, medicine, and winter shelter, while a new ban on humanitarian groups will push the enclave to the brink.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

26 Jan 2026\u00a0<\/em>– At the beginning of the new year, Saber Dawas stood inside Gaza City\u2019s Yarmouk Stadium, where he and his family had been displaced since Israel bombed their home in Beit Lahiya in December 2023. Now, he had to start from scratch yet again: Heavy rain and strong winds destroyed his family\u2019s makeshift tent and flooded their belongings.<\/p>\n

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\u201cMy wife and six daughters were crying while freezing,\u201d Dawas told +972 Magazine. \u201cI was helpless, trying to hold the tent with a wooden stick to keep it standing, but it was blown away.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dawas\u2019 family is among\u00a0more than a million<\/a>\u00a0Gazans in need of emergency shelter, and almost 800,000 living in areas prone to flooding during the recent winter storms. Yet in spite of the terms of the October ceasefire, Israel has continued to enforce severe restrictions on the entry of goods \u2014 including prefabricated homes, or caravans, and other shelter materials \u2014 and Palestinians like Dawas are left struggling to find basic resources.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy family and I have been waiting for the entry of caravans so we can live with dignity instead of being humiliated in tents,\u201d Dawas added. \u201cIf this is a real ceasefire, why is Israel still closing the borders and restricting the entry of life-saving necessities, including caravans, humanitarian aid, commercial products, and even my daughter\u2019s medicine and milk?\u201d<\/p>\n

Dawas\u2019 youngest daughter, Hoor, who is two years old, suffers from stomach cancer and severe malnutrition. She can only safely consume specialized medical formulas known as F100 and F75, prescribed by doctors for critically ill and malnourished children.<\/p>\n

But Dawas has been unable to find them in pharmacies, medical clinics, or from humanitarian organizations operating in Gaza, as Israel has continued to prevent UNICEF from bringing\u00a0nearly a million bottles<\/a>\u00a0of baby formula into the Strip.<\/p>\n

\"Two-year-old<\/a>Two-year-old Hoor Dawas, who suffers from malnutrition and stomach cancer, and her older sister, in Gaza City, November 28, 2025. (Courtesy)<\/em><\/div>\n

\u201cSince the ceasefire, whenever we ask NGOs or pharmacies about the milk, they tell us Israel is not allowing it into Gaza,\u201d Dawas\u2019 wife and Hoor\u2019s mother, Sanabel, said.<\/p>\n

Hoor also urgently needs to leave Gaza to get medical attention; with the\u00a0healthcare sector largely destroyed<\/a>\u00a0by Israel\u2019s campaign, doctors lack the imaging equipment necessary to determine the severity and progression of her cancer.<\/p>\n

\u201cA severe shortage of cancer medications, the denial of essential diagnostic services, and the continued closure of crossings preventing patients from traveling abroad for treatment have created a deadly reality, placing patients\u2019 lives at constant risk,\u201d explained Talha A. Balousha, a supervisor at the Gaza Cancer Center in the Health Ministry.<\/p>\n

Even cancer medications that have entered Gaza through the ministry following the ceasefire remain far below what is needed to meet patient demand who require continuous and specialized treatment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ceasefire has made no difference and has not led to any meaningful improvement in medical services, neither in specialized equipment nor in essential medicines,\u201d he continued. \u201cPatients are unable to receive chemotherapy, and with acute shortages of painkillers, they are forced to endure extreme suffering. Some die without any access to pain relief.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed, doctors recently\u00a0reported<\/a>\u00a0that cancer-related deaths have tripled since October 2023. Hoor was issued a high-priority medical referral last July, after doctors with the International Medical Corps in southern Gaza diagnosed her stomach cancer. But\u00a0like 18,500 other Gazans<\/a>, she is still waiting for Israel to facilitate her evacuation \u2014 and Dawas knows that time is running out.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are still waiting for Israel to open the borders so we can treat our daughter before she dies in front of us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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\"A<\/a>A four-day-old Palestinian baby is treated in the neonatal intensive care unit at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, as doctors call for her urgent transfer abroad for surgery, January 17, 2026. (Abed Rahim Khatib\/Flash90)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018I walk past fruits and vegetables, feeling helpless\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Although Israel agreed to allow 600 trucks of aid into the Strip every day as part of the ceasefire agreement,\u00a0local authorities<\/a>\u00a0say that only 200 enter on the best days. European diplomats are now reportedly\u00a0reconsidering<\/a>\u00a0their participation in the U.S.-led Civil-Military Coordination Center in southern Israel, in part due to the fact that many of the trucks entering Gaza since October have only carried commercial goods, and citing the absence of any notable increase in humanitarian aid.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Gazan economic researcher Ahmed Abu Qamr estimates Gaza actually needs at least 1,000 trucks daily to meet basic needs, or five times what Israel is currently allowing. Israel has only approved a small number of vetted Gazan importers to bring goods into the Strip, who have reported paying millions of dollars in\u00a0\u201ccoordination fees\u201d<\/a>\u00a0to the Israeli military \u2014 and with a monopoly on imports, they can\u00a0pass on the fees<\/a>\u00a0to other traders who lack Israeli approval and raise the cost of goods in local markets.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese fees drive prices up to eight times higher than before the war,\u201d Abu Qamr said. \u201cLess than 5 percent of Gaza\u2019s population can afford basic goods, while the vast majority live in poverty and rely on charities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Israel further restricts essential food items such as\u00a0chicken, meat, and eggs<\/a>, leaving them to spoil in the trucks, or demanding higher coordination fees that leads to a spike in their prices. Meanwhile,\u00a0unhealthy processed snacks<\/a>\u00a0enter with fewer restrictions. \u201cThese products cannot replace nutritious food,\u201d Abu Qamr said. \u201cThousands of families in Gaza have not eaten vegetables or fruit for months.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ayman Madoukh, a Palestinian in his 50s who used to work in construction, had desperately awaited the ceasefire to be able to return to work and feed his family. But while local shops are once again selling fresh food, he cannot afford them.<\/p>\n

\u201cI frequently visit the market to buy basic necessities, but my money runs out before I can buy everything my family needs,\u201d Madoukh said. \u201cI walk past fruits and vegetables and return home feeling helpless and deeply saddened.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Palestinians<\/a>Palestinians shop at a market in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, November 21, 2025. (Abed Rahim Khatib\/Flash90)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

A father of six, Madoukh\u2019s family relied on savings until they ran out last summer. He now depends on one of his sons\u2019 income working at a small mall in central Gaza City and occasional support from his brother in Turkey.<\/p>\n

Without stable earnings, Madoukh\u2019s family relies largely on humanitarian food parcels distributed by organizations like UNICEF. But he says\u00a0distributions are insufficient<\/a>\u00a0and similarly nutritionally inadequate, especially after months of starvation. While the Strip is no longer under\u00a0famine conditions<\/a>, hunger levels are still at a critical point.<\/p>\n

\u201cInstead of chicken, meat, eggs, or vegetables, I have only received bags of flour and beans since the ceasefire,\u201d Madoukh said. \u201cIt is neither healthy nor enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople have been flooded with aid limited to a single category of food \u2014 mainly white flour and cheap canned goods,\u201d Abu Qamr also noted. Often, the cost of transportation to collect aid exceeds the low value of what they collect, so some families skip distribution.<\/p>\n

\u201cIsrael has pushed people in Gaza into near-total dependence on humanitarian aid,\u201d he continued. \u201cBefore the war in October 2023, around 55 percent of Gaza\u2019s population depended on humanitarian assistance; today, that number has risen to 95 percent.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Palestinians<\/a><\/p>\n

Palestinians line up outside of a World Food Programme aid distribution site, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, November 2, 2025. (Abed Rahim Khatib\/Flash90)<\/em><\/p>\n

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\u2018Allowing humanitarian aid in Gaza is not a favor\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Now, an already dire humanitarian situation will be pushed to the brink after Israel\u00a0revoked the operating licenses<\/a>\u00a0of some of the international organizations that deliver assistance in the occupied Palestinian territories. 37 international organizations \u2014 including the International Rescue Committee and Doctors Without Borders \u2014 had their licenses suspended on Jan. 1 and were given 60 days to cease operating within Gaza and the West Bank.<\/p>\n

The Israeli Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism said the 37 organizations on the list failed to meet what it described as \u201csecurity\u201d and \u201ctransparency\u201d requirements. But UN human rights chief Volker T\u00fcrk\u00a0described the suspensions<\/a>\u00a0as \u201carbitrary,\u201d warning that they make \u201can already intolerable situation even worse for the people of Gaza.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDenying medical assistance to civilians is unacceptable under any circumstance, and it is appalling to use humanitarian aid as a tool of policy or collective punishment,\u201d Doctors Without Borders wrote in response to Israel\u2019s suspensions. \u201cAllowing humanitarian aid in Gaza is not a favor \u2014 it is an obligation under international law.\u201d<\/p>\n

In response to a request for comment, a spokesperson for Israel\u2019s\u00a0Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) \u2014 the civilian branch of Israel\u2019s military government in the occupied West Bank and Gaza \u2014 emphasized that \u201cIsrael does not restrict essential food items, and their entry is facilitated in accordance with requests from international aid organizations.\u201d<\/p>\n

The spokesperson also claimed that \u201cbetween 600 and 800 aid trucks enter the Gaza Strip every day,\u201d 70 percent of which carry food, and that COGAT has \u201ccarried out extensive preparations for the winter period\u201d in Gaza by facilitating the entry of \u201cmore than 490,000 family tents, sheets, and tarpaulins.\u201d\u00a0The spokesperson similarly denied that Israel restricts the entry of medicine, and insisted that \u201cIsrael acts to allow and facilitate the entry of all required medical equipment and continues to facilitate the entry into the Gaza Strip of trucks carrying medical supplies, without quantitative limitation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nor does Israel, according to the COGAT spokesperson, \u201crestrict the exit of Gaza Strip residents for the purpose of receiving medical treatment in a third country. On the contrary, Israel encourages countries around the world to submit requests to evacuate patients from the Gaza Strip, with an emphasis on children and their caregivers, and is prepared to assist in the evacuation process subject to receipt of an official request from a receiving country.\u201d The spokesperson claimed that 42,000 residents have been evacuated from Gaza since the start of the war, and \u201cdozens and even hundreds\u201d each week in recent months.<\/p>\n

Regarding the recent suspension of operating licenses for international organizations operating in Gaza and the West Bank, the spokesperson noted that \u201cdue to credible information received regarding Hamas exploitation of humanitarian aid, the defense establishment formulated a new mechanism for the entry, control, and supervision of humanitarian aid.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs part of this mechanism, organizations are required to complete an orderly registration process with Israel\u2019s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs, which includes, among other things, the submission of a list of organization employees operating in Gaza for prior security screening.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe volume of aid entering Gaza each day does not depend on these organizations, and there will be no future harm to the volume of humanitarian aid as a result of the implementation of the law.\u201d<\/p>\n

__________________________________________________<\/p>\n

Ahmed Ahmed is a pseudonym for a journalist from Gaza City who asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisal.<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original – defenddemocracy.press<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

26 Jan 2026\u00a0– Palestinians report a dire lack of healthy food, medicine, and winter shelter, while a new ban on humanitarian groups will push the enclave to the brink.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":307483,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[3287,3729,1559,532,405,1854,101,100,1199,2242,87,865,1029,1966,88,2416,427,3534,2897,880,99,70,965],"class_list":["post-312594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-palestine-israel-gaza-genocide","tag-anti-zionism","tag-ceasefire","tag-collective-punishment","tag-colonialism","tag-colonization","tag-crimes-against-humanity","tag-cultural-violence","tag-direct-violence","tag-ethnic-cleansing","tag-famine","tag-gaza","tag-genocide","tag-hamas","tag-hunger","tag-israel","tag-israeli-occupation","tag-palestine","tag-palestinian-holocaust","tag-sociocide","tag-state-terrorism","tag-structural-violence","tag-usa","tag-war-crimes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=312594"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312594\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":312597,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312594\/revisions\/312597"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/307483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=312594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=312594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=312594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}