Our Planet Climate and Geopolitics
Three numbers sum up the situation after the US announced it was permanently shutting down its $230 million aid pier in Gaza: 20, 1 and 495,000. The pier was built two months ago in a rush to get aid into Gaza, after more than 100 people died when civilians swarmed an aid truck and Israeli soldiers opened fire in February. But in the end it was only operational for about 20 days, as bad weather repeatedly disrupted deliveries. It delivered about 8,800 tons of aid – not nothing, but equivalent to about one day’s worth of the aid that flowed into Gaza before the war. Aid agencies have long argued that more pressure is needed to open land crossings into Gaza. Since Israel launched its offensive in Rafah and closed the border crossing, the number of trucks entering through other routes fell from 840 in May to just 18 so far in July. The UN said this month that famine has now spread across the strip, with more than 495,000 people – more than one fifth of the population – facing “catastrophic” levels of food insecurity.
