Israel's fresh diktats worsen Gaza food crisis

Food supplies to Gaza have fallen sharply in recent weeks because Israeli authorities have introduced a new customs rule on some humanitarian aid and are separately scaling down deliveries organised by businesses, people involved in getting goods to Gaza told Reuters.

The new customs rule applies to truck convoys chartered by the United Nations to take aid from Jordan to Gaza via Israel, seven people familiar with the matter said.

Under the rule, individuals from relief organisations sending aid must complete a form providing passport details, and accept liability for any false information on a shipment, the people said.

They said relief agencies are disputing that requirement, which was announced mid-August, because they fear signing the form could expose staff to legal problems if aid fell into the hands of "enemies of Israel".

As a result, shipments have not been getting through the Jordan route a key channel in Gaza supplies for two weeks.

In a parallel move, Israeli authorities have restricted commercial food shipments to Gaza the people familiar with the matter and industry sources said.

UN and Israeli government data show that in September, food and aid deliveries sank to their lowest for 11 months.

Israeli's military administration unit, COGAT, which oversees aid and commercial shipments to Gaza, confirmed that no UN-chartered convoy has moved from Jordan to Gaza since Sept. 19.

The twin restrictions, which have not been previously reported, have reignited concerns among aid workers that pervasive food insecurity will worsen for the 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza.

"Lack of food is some of the worst it's been during the war, these past weeks especially," Nour al Amassi, a doctor who works in southern Gaza, told Reuters by phone.

"We thought we'd been able to get a hold of it but it's got worse. My clinic treats 50 children a day for various issues, injuries and illnesses. On average 15 of those are malnourished."

Food insecurity

The number of trucks carrying food and other goods to Gaza fell to around 130 per day on average in September, according to Cogat statistics.

That is below about 150 recorded since the beginning of the war, and far off the 600 trucks a day that the US Agency for International Development says are required to address the threat of famine.

Food insecurity has been one of the most fraught issues of Israel's war on Gaza.

In May, International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutors asked the court to issue an arrest warrant against Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, saying they suspected Israeli authorities had used "the starvation of civilians as a method of warfare."

Commercial imports by Gaza-based traders made up the majority of the 500 trucks that entered the territory daily before the war.

But commercial shipments have fallen from a daily average of 140 trucks in July to 80 in September, according to Cogat statistics.

In the last two weeks of September, Gaza-based traders said the daily average fell even further, to a low of 45 trucks.