International observers say that not enough aid is being allowed in and that the distribution system is deeply flawed and unable to reach the poorest people who desperately need it.
“They call them secure distribution sites,” said Alex de Waal, executive director of the World Peace Foundation at Tufts University and the author of a book on mass starvation. “Well, the people aren’t secure. A lot of them get killed. But the rations aren’t secure either. No voluntary agency would ever hand out food in this way. You simply don’t know who’s coming to get it and people are getting multiple boxes because they’re strong. The strongest get the most.”
On Aug. 7, Mike Huckabee, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, announced a U.S. plan to expand aid distribution operations in Gaza to as many as 16 points. But since then, Israel announced its plan to invade Gaza City, the most populous city in the strip, forcing hundreds of thousands of residents to once again uproot themselves. It’s not clear whether the expanded sites will be opened during a full-scale military incursion of the type the government of Israel has now approved.
This is not the first time Samaritan’s Purse has provided aid in this conflict. The After the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, Samaritan’s Purse pledged 42 ambulances to Magen David Adom, Israel’s national emergency medical service; of those, 22 have already been provided.
In Gaza, it has also worked with other partners to provide Palestinians with medicine, shelter materials and clean water.
This article originally appeared here.
