From restricting truck crossings to preventing proper cargo securing, Israel has imposed layers of bureaucratic and physical obstacles that hinder every stage of delivering food and medical supplies to Gaza.

Even from outer space, the failure of Israel’s plan to supply food to the Gaza Strip is clear. Long white trails of spilled flour stretch north from the Israel-Gaza Kerem Shalom border crossing; the contrast of the white flour is stark against the brown Gaza sand. Just kilometres away, people are starving while tons of flour lie wasted along the roads. Nearby, yellow sacks of rice have also fallen from trucks.

The flour and rice come from donations gathered by the UN and international humanitarian groups, who usually buy the food in the West Bank, Jordan or abroad and transport it through Israel to Gaza. According to humanitarian sources, the IDF does not allow the supplies to be properly secured before trucks leave Kerem Shalom to enter the areas where starving Gazans live.

Sources in Gaza report that IDF soldiers rush aid workers to load cargo quickly, then trucks are often delayed for hours and forced to take dangerous routes. Because the food isn’t securely tied down, it’s easy to steal, and most of the aid entering Gaza is  looted on the way. Some food also spills due to severe road damage.

For months, the UN and humanitarian aid groups have pleaded with the IDF to allow food to enter through other crossings, to give them time to secure and protect shipments, and to use safer routes to ensure aid reaches those in need. Their requests have been repeatedly denied.

This is just one of many obstacles that Israel places in the way of feeding Gaza’s residents and stopping the hunger crisis. On the surface, there is a puzzling gap between Israel’s repeated claims of increasing food supplies to Gaza and the ongoing daily reports of deaths from starvation and  severe malnutrition, especially among children.

Obstacles imposed by Israel

Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli has blocked dozens of organisations attempting to deliver aid.

• Police have failed to provide the necessary escort for trucks crossing from the Jordanian border.
• The IDF delays trucks at the Kerem Shalom crossing and limits loading times, which impacts drivers’ ability to secure the cargo.
• The Kerem Shalom crossing is closed on Fridays and Saturdays.
• Aid workers and international volunteers are not permitted to enter Gaza through Kerem Shalom at the same time as the trucks.
• The IDF has established checkpoints within Gaza that impede the movement of trucks.
• Gaza’s social order is rapidly deteriorating because many police officers have been targeted by the IDF.
• UNRWA’s activities are being disrupted.
• Restrictions persist on the entry of certain medical supplies and foods.

The reason is that humanitarian organisations and UN agencies — including the World Food Program, UNICEF, the World Health Organisation and dozens more — have been unable to rebuild the food distribution network that operated in Gaza before the current crisis began on 2 March 2025. At that time, Israel closed the border crossings for 78 days, causing the network to collapse.

Israeli officials, from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu down, along with representatives of the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, claim that the failure to supply Gaza adequately is due to negligence or inefficiency by the UN and other aid groups.

However, since the blockade began, Israel has imposed numerous bureaucratic and physical obstacles at every stage of delivering food and aid to Gaza. These restrictions are backed by Israeli Supreme Court case rulings or enforced through arbitrary orders by low-ranking Israeli officers in the field. The result is that hunger persists.

A trucked up situation

The first obstacle is bureaucratic, involving the registration of organisations allowed to transfer food to Gaza through Israel. Before the war broke out on 7 October 2023, the Welfare and Social Affairs Ministry handled registration of humanitarian organisations operating in the Palestinian territories and issued recommendation letters for their employees to obtain visas. After the war began, the welfare ministry unilaterally halted this registration process.

For 17 months, aid organisations were unable to register or receive visas. Following a petition to the High Court, the Israeli Government introduced a new, stricter registration procedure in March. Responsibility was shifted to the office of Chikli, who openly opposes international aid groups. Chikli described the new procedure as a dramatic policy shift targeting foreign entities that, under the guise of humanitarian work, seek to undermine Israel, promote boycotts and damage the country’s image.

The procedure includes rules such as denying registration if any senior member of the organisation has called for a boycott of Israel within seven years before applying. Another contentious clause requires organisations to submit lists of their Palestinian employees, a demand some groups say violates their countries’ privacy laws. The procedure is set to take full effect in September, but many organisations have already struggled to deliver aid due to registration problems. According to an Israeli expert forum on Gaza humanitarian aid, 29 organisations were denied permission to send shipments in July alone because of registration issues.

The second obstacle concerns the entry of food and aid into Israel. Since Israel captured and destroyed the Rafah crossing more than a year ago, goods can only enter Gaza by land through Israel. Trucks must travel from the Israel-Jordan border, the port in Ashdod or the West Bank to the Gaza crossings, requiring complex co-ordination with Israeli authorities and customs approval.

Most deliveries use a “back-to-back” system: A Jordanian or Palestinian truck arrives and transfers cargo to an Israeli truck, which then travels to Kerem Shalom to unload. The cargo is reloaded onto a Palestinian truck for delivery into Gaza. This complicated process increases costs and causes frequent delays.

About a week ago, Israel tightened requirements by demanding police escorts for every convoy leaving Jordan toward Gaza. Previously, this applied only to convoys carrying food and aid on behalf of states like Gulf countries, not humanitarian organisations. Aid groups say police are often reluctant to co-operate, causing delays or cancellations when police escorts don’t show up.

The third obstacle involves unclear and frequently changing restrictions on what can be brought into Gaza. Last week, Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, the military body responsible for co-ordinating humanitarian aid, rejected requests to bring Israeli-produced dates and potatoes into Gaza. Potatoes were refused due to their long shelf life, which could allow Hamas militants to trade or steal them. Dates were deemed a “luxury” item.

In July, Haaretz published a  list of items banned by Israel, which includes medical and logistical equipment essential for treating malnutrition, such as clinic structures, generators, batteries, solar panels, chemical test kits and blood storage refrigerators.

The fourth obstacle is the limited operation of the southern Kerem Shalom and northern Zikim border crossings between Israel and Gaza. Kerem Shalom, the main crossing for most food and aid, also serves as the entry/exit point for foreign humanitarian workers and  healthcare volunteers, preventing continuous operations.

A driver at Kerem Shalom reported that on Monday, only five out of 50 trucks carrying sugar, rice and oil were allowed into Gaza. The other 45 waited from 11am to 4pm before being told to turn around and return. The crossing is closed on weekends, and very little cargo enters Gaza on Fridays and Saturdays.

Hamas benefits – from the chaos

Contrary to the public image promoted by Israel, allowing food into Gaza does not guarantee that it reaches the starving residents. Food is unloaded from trucks at a large logistics area near the border crossing, but humanitarian organisations are not free to take it from there. The final step — moving the food from this zone to the residents, most of whom live in tents several kilometres away — remains the greatest obstacle.

Aid groups must first receive permission to bring trucks in. They are only allowed to load approved goods within a strict timeframe. After loading, drivers must wait, sometimes for hours, until given clearance to proceed. The IDF dictates which routes are used, which humanitarian sources say are chosen to make it easier for looters to target convoys.

Despite many requests to change the routes, drivers must use the same roads repeatedly so looters know where to wait. The IDF does not escort the convoys and has recently added more checkpoints that cause further delays.

Two weeks ago, a UN convoy was held for 2½ hours at a temporary checkpoint. Tens of thousands gathered around, and when the convoy was finally allowed through, it was looted. Last week, another convoy was delayed for 18 hours. These lengthy delays prevent aid groups from delivering enough supplies to restock warehouses and resume regular food distribution.

Some organisations claim that for months, the IDF has tolerated looting to demonstrate that the UN and aid groups cannot “deliver”. This allows Israel to argue that humanitarian failures are not due to military bureaucracy or operational challenges, but are instead the result of a deliberate policy aimed at weakening the international humanitarian network and promoting the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

Additionally, the IDF has targeted and killed many of Gaza’s police officers, causing the collapse of social order in Gaza. This has made it impossible for aid organisations to safely transport food throughout the Strip without theft.

“The people who really need food but steal a few packages are a minority. The majority are merchants who fill their pockets with our food and our children’s food because their daily income is insufficient,” said Hassan, a Gaza resident involved in community kitchens for displaced people. “They or their helpers visit distribution centres daily, and nothing will stop their looting.”

Another resident, Ahmed, explained that merchants profit by selling aid food at high prices. “They run the markets and set prices as they wish, making at least 1000 dollars a day,” he said.

Israel’s main justification for dismantling the previous UN-run food distribution system was that Hamas was stealing a significant portion of the aid. However, Israel has not presented evidence to support this claim, and a New York Times report noted that  senior Israeli officers admitted there is no basis for it. So far, the social chaos created by the GHF distribution system seems to be benefitting Hamas.

Hassan added that “behind the scenes,” thieves co-operate with Hamas and sell goods to them. “There is disorder throughout the entire distribution process. Those who have weapons and ammunition from known mafia families in Gaza can acquire more aid and sell it, leaving needy families without help. Several large families with a history of crime, even before the war, have no problem stealing aid, selling it to Hamas and making money. These families were not involved in trade before, but now find aid to be a source of income they can control.”

Hassan, a community kitchen volunteer in Gaza

Israel is also working to  dismantle UNRWA, the largest and most important humanitarian agency in Gaza. Evidence of Hamas ties to UNRWA has been weak. Israel presented clear evidence against at least 10 employees (out of a staff of 13,000 before the war). After the Knesset passed new laws against UNRWA, the agency had to quickly evacuate all international staff and is now barred from communicating with Israeli authorities. UNRWA cannot request aid entry or co-ordinate humanitarian operations.

Recently, Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar imposed difficulties on the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs because of its reports on Gaza’s humanitarian crisis. Sa’ar revoked the visa of Jonathan Whittal, the head of OCHA in Gaza, who played a key role in co-ordinating the movement of aid. He is expected to leave Gaza soon, further hampering aid delivery.

Regarding providing police escorts to protect convoys from Jordan, the Israel Police said: “Claims that aid convoys were cancelled due to lack of police escort are baseless and false. No aid convoy has been cancelled. The police continue to operate in support of the IDF, which is fully responsible for convoy crossings based on operational and security needs.”

COGAT added: “Contrary to claims, the escort procedure for humanitarian convoys from Jordan by security forces is routine and conducted according to protocols set by relevant bodies. This ensures safe, direct arrival of convoys at crossings. Furthermore, contrary to claims, entry of dates and potatoes is allowed as part of humanitarian aid into Gaza.”

Republished from Haaretz, 12 August 2025

The views expressed in this article may or may not reflect those of Pearls and Irritations.