Catastrophic hunger - 40% of Gaza's population at risk of famine

Yeah, it's clear that more aid getting in is Israel admitting that they could have done this all along, they just didn't want to. Considering the denial of humanitarian assistance is a war crime it's really poor form(to put it lightly) for other countries to continue to aid and abet Israel.

I noticed fuel quantities are also up this week. That will help as more dry goods as opposed to tins will be able to be provided.

The real problem is that the famine was predicted in Dec/Jan unless supplies improved. Food agencies know that you have to sit and wait for 3 months to see the deaths that trigger a declared famine. Little wonder that they have been vocal. And now the deaths are occurring, as if by magic supplies can be upped. Why someone needed to murder aid workers to accelerate this process ... who knows.

These figures look more like the amount of food aid that should have been going in for months but no mention of Erez crossing

350 aid trucks to enter Gaza daily: Report

Some 250 trucks will pass through the Karem Abu Salem (Karem Shalom) crossing via southern Israel, while 100 will go through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, reports Israeli Army Radio, quoting Israel’s security cabinet.

Completely agree @Parkingt111 it's taken far too long and so much suffering could have been avoided - plus the civil disorder which also won't go away overnight

Yes, it's most definitely a positive step in the right direction and I hope there's follow through now.
It is a shame it took so long to get to this stage but better late than never I suppose. Many deaths caused by malnutrition could have been avoided

Surely it will take some time for the 'indicators of potential famine' to reverse - eg re-feeding of malnourished patients doesn't happen overnight so hopefully a more long term monitoring is anticipated?

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You're quite right. I was wrong. I revise my statement

You can starve to death on 700g of lettuce or cucumber. If, however, you have 700g of nutritionally balanced and highly caloric food, it is probably impossible to starve to death.

I sincerely hope more than 700g goes into Gaza, and that is is delivered to the people who most need it as quickly as possible. I sincerely hope Israel opens up as many routes as possible for that to happen. I sincerely hope someone steps in to ensure it is not looted and passage can be safe. I sincerely hope the war finishes as quickly as possible by the people who started it surrendering and returning the hostages that they took.

Pleased to see this too

The US secretary of state Antony Blinken has welcomed the steps announced by Israel on humanitarian aid to Gaza, but said “the real test is results”.

Blinken also said the US will look at the number of trucks entering and getting around Gaza, and will also look at indictators of potential famine to see if they reverse, according to Reuters.

I guess the US won't need to rely on COGAT or any UN agency to gather this data

It's a shame the Erez crossing into the North is only opening temporarily, hopefully the US can persuade Netanyahu to allow it to open indefinitely for aid transfer as parts of the North are suffering the most right now

Excellent news. It seems that Biden's threats had an immediate impact In allowing in more aid. If the Ashdod port was allowed to be used from the start, the US wouldn't have to build a new pier.

No one's starving on 700g a day. I think that's what you said but you admit you have no idea what that 700g consists of and haven't accounted for packaging weight.

Any comment on the food aid being the same as before the war? I thought you'd appreciate the calculation but it seems to have provoked you. Hey ho you can't please everyone.

@FOJN the information from COGAT posted above is from an 'IDF Update' - the sub-text of which is COGAT's in charge now and doing so much better than UNWRA ever did

OCHAs infographics give a much clearer picture of aid entering over the whole time period time

I just did respond. But maybe you struggled with it, so let's do it again.

I did not mention the calorific content of aid. I merely pointed out to you that water is not included in the same tally. Thus your point that the weight might include water is not correct. It does not include water.

I do not know how many calories are in each truck of food aid.

Some might assume the aid agencies responding to starving people designed the contents to meet nutritional needs and ensured what's provided had a high nutritional and calorific content.

Others might assume the aid agencies sent over food for starving people with little to no calories in it.

You are welcome to decide which you believe to be the case using your common sense.

You seemed keen to explain the maths to us in an earlier post but now don't want to a respond to follow up.

I agree that energy dense food would be good choice for aid agencies but you acknowledge you do not know the specifics and yet are certain there is enough food.

Your graphic isn't dated but I'm assuming you've included it because it's recent. We are about 180 days into the war and 12677 food trucks have been allowed into Gaza, that's an average of 70 a day, the same as before the war. So the quantity of food aid required to support the food insecure population of Gaza before the war now has to feed the entire population and you think that's enough.

Just shows that this could have been done all along so they were being deliberately disruptive and finally with US pressure have had to relent. I hope it isn't too late

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-68737846

217 trucks got through yesterday. The second time this week the 200 mark has been exceeded. The second time this conflict the 200 mark has been exceeded.

I am simply informing you that water is not included.

I have no idea of the calorific content of the food aid.

I'd imagine, being food aid, that they have selected it based on ideal nutritional value, but that's pure speculation. They might indeed have sent 265000 tonnes of lettuce.

You haven't addressed the fact that the number of pre war trucks you keep mentioning was food aid and doesn't include stock for shops to sell and you have ignored that Gaza produced some of its own food.

You haven't addressed the calorific content of the food and yet you seem certain that no one is starving on 700g a day. Unless you know exactly what's in those trucks you cannot make that claim.

COGAT do not include water in their food tally. That is a separate tally.

@FOJN the last figure I saw for water was 33 million litres about 3-4 weeks ago - that was just UNWRA

Just catching up with this thread, sorry to go back to food weight and number of trucks but I think this paragraph from the linked BBC news item on a previous page is relevant.

Cogat, the Israeli body that coordinates humanitarian aid to Gaza, said on 1 April that an average of 140 trucks a day carrying food entered Gaza. It said this was more than the 70 trucks carrying food specifically that entered Gaza before the war (500 trucks in total entered Gaza each day before the war).

Note it says "Cogat...said", the article is clear that Cogat coordinate humanitarian aid, they would have nothing to do with food "imported into Gaza" for sale in shops which would be in addition to the food aid trucks. Food insecurity for people in Gaza, before the war, was sufficient to warrant 70 trucks a day of food aid and now that little to no food for sale can be taken into Gaza the number of *aid trucks" have doubled to feed the entire population. It's clearly insufficient.

I would also like to note that food weight is not the best indicator of whether sufficient food is being allowed in. Water has zero calories per 100g, celery has 14 calories per hundred grams and cheese has 430 calories per hundred grams. All those items weight the same but have substantially different nutritional values. I would like to know how much water and how many calories are making it into Gaza.

I think we all know it's nowhere near enough even if there were no problems with distribution.

@Parkingt111 Agree. If the US is saying this they must think Israel could do more. The killing of the 7 foreign aid workers has probably alarmed the US somewhat also.

I don't know what crossings there are in the North, but it does seem strange to just make an extra hole, rather than opening one. Still, it seems like progress if an aid agency can use it.

Definite change in tone and content @Parkingt111 and time limit of 'hours or days' to see changes - not just talk of changes

Who knows maybe the worm is [finally] turning

Hope you are keeping well too - nice to 'see' you again @stormy4319trevor

IDK why they did it that way - at a guess maybe because it avoided backing down and opening one of the pre-existing proper gates which they have been refusing to do for 5 months? Just a ?temporary gap in the fence

But really no idea