Murray Wood: It's getting better all the time
Even if it seems - as the rejoinder in the Beatles' song observed - 'it couldn't get much worse,' Murray Wood suggests w...
OTTAWA — Two months after announcing it had truckloads of food waiting to enter Gaza, a Canadian charity says it’s finally about to get its first shipment of aid to desperate Palestinians since March.
Human Concern International has two trucks in place filled with bags of flour that were supposed to enter Gaza on Friday. It says it changed its plans because desperate Palestinians have been looting aid trucks.
“It’s beyond catastrophe, what’s happening in Gaza right now,” said the group’s head, Mahmuda Khan.
HCI used to send aid trucks into Gaza regularly before Israel blocked all outside aid in March and set up its own distribution sites. Hundreds of Palestinians have been shot dead by Israeli soldiers while trying to access food at those sites.
Israel recently lifted some restrictions on food deliveries and Jordanian soldiers started airdropping aid purchased by Ottawa into the enclave this week.
Khan’s group was given permission to enter the Gaza strip Thursday with two trucks, each carrying 1,300 25-kilogram bags of flour. She said they chose not to cross into Gaza Thursday because aid trucks have been swarmed by large groups of Palestinians, making it unsafe for locals and staff.
She said three truckloads of flour and seven trucks containing 2,080 boxes of food are ready to enter the territory once the charity finds a safer route.
Khan said Israel needs to vastly increase the amount of aid it’s letting into Gaza, adding authorities at the border are only allowing her group to deliver food that requires cooking, such as lentils and rice.
“We’re not allowed to put baby formula, we’re not allowed to put any meat there right now. So it’s calorie-counted versus nutrition calculations,” she said.
The group is urging Ottawa to push Israel for more access so that canned tuna and baby formula can be allowed in the territory.
Her organization has accused Israel of “deliberately limiting types and amounts of food supplies to keep Gazans within a specific malnutrition threshold.” The Israeli government says it is meeting its humanitarian obligations.
Israel imposed a blockade on Gaza in March, arguing that Hamas had been selling vital supplies and food to pay its fighters. UN agencies say this was not happening to any large extent.
After two and a half months, Israel allowed Americans to launch the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which set up aid distribution sites. Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed by Israeli army fire and American contractors while trying to access those sites.
A week ago, Israel slightly loosened its restrictions.
UNICEF has said it needs to undertake “therapeutic feeding” for children with severe acute malnutrition who can no longer eat normal food. That requires products such as Plumpy’Nut, a mix of peanuts and fats.
Khan said her group is also purchasing local produce in Gaza at astronomical rates, with one kilogram of onions costing the equivalent of $21.60 and the same quantity of tomatoes costing $18.90.
She said her group has two medical clinics that struggle to find medicines, equipment and fuel for generators. They frequently see children with infectious diseases caused by drinking contaminated water, she said, and the people of Gaza need more than just food.
“They need a complete solution, a holistic approach of pure, clean water, nutritional food on an ongoing and consistent basis — and not just for a week or two,” she said.
Israel has repeatedly pushed back on claims that it is causing starvation in Gaza – the assessment shared by Ottawa, U.S. President Donald Trump and most major global organizations.
“Israel has been an active partner in humanitarian aid delivery to Gaza consistent with its responsibilities under international law,” Israeli Ambassador Iddo Moed wrote in a media statement Wednesday.
He said Israel has facilitated the movement of 600 aid trucks over the previous five days. The UN has said that is the number of aid trucks needed each day in order for Gaza’s population to meet its basic humanitarian needs.
Gaza was receiving roughly 70 truckloads of aid a day before last week – one of the lowest aid delivery rates since the war started.
Israel and the UN have repeatedly blamed each other for delays in aid reaching Palestinians, with Israel saying hundreds of trucks have sat idle.
The UN says that in order to retrieve aid at the border or move around most of the Gaza Strip, its trucks must enter zones controlled by the military, load the aid and get it safely to the people who need it. It says the whole trip can take 20 hours.
Large crowds of desperate people, as well as criminal gangs, overwhelm the trucks as they enter Gaza and strip them of supplies, The Associated Press has reported. Witnesses tell the agency that Israeli troops regularly fire on the crowds, killing and injuring many.
The military frequently assigns routes for trucks to use that are unsuitable; “impassable for long truck convoys, passing through crowded markets, or controlled by dangerous gangs,” the UN humanitarian office said last month.
The UN released a video Friday of what it said was one of its own convoys on Wednesday. It shows hundreds standing at a roadside as warning shots are fired. After the shooting stops, men and boys swarm the convoy.
Israel said it doesn’t limit the truckloads of aid coming into Gaza, and that it regularly looks for the best routes to provide access for the international community.
— With files from The Associated Press
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 1, 2025.
Dylan Robertson, The Canadian Press
