| Accounts from the scene suggest that besides the conduct of the Israeli forces, there are a number of factors exacerbating the situation. Food is reportedly running out very early each day, adding to the chaos as people desperately try to secure supplies for themselves and their families. Even if all of the GHF sites were opened, large numbers of people needing support would be congregating in a very few places; with only one site up and running since Friday and only one access route allowed, that effect is exacerbated. Then there is the sheer physical difficulty of the journey for those living further away. “It takes three or four hours to reach the distribution point from here,” said Al-Shawa, who is in Gaza City, in the north of Gaza. “Most people are going on foot, or paying a lot of money to use a donkey cart. And when you get there it is not an easy mission. There are tens of thousands of people waiting to get a very limited amount of food parcels, and so there is a rush. There is no system – they just open the gate and tell people to go. The mechanism excludes older people, women with children, the sick, people with disabilities.” Images from the site show that most of those who have been waiting are young men – perhaps more likely to be deemed “suspects” by the IDF if the crowd gets out of control. Is the amount of food being distributed adequate to the task? GHF says it has distributed just over 7m meals so far. It says that it will continue to ramp up its operations in the days ahead. But last night it said that all of its distribution centres would be closed today for “update, organisation, and efficiency improvement work”. The Israeli military said that while the sites are closed, the areas leading to them will be considered “combat zones”. The fact that food is running out so early each day is testament to how badly supply is outstripped by desperate demand. As of 12 May, almost all of the population of about 2.1 million were facing acute hunger, according to Unicef; one in five were facing starvation, and about 71,000 children and 17,000 mothers needed urgent treatment for acute malnutrition. Al-Shawa says he is relatively fortunate, because he can afford the extortionate price of basic provisions, at least for now. “But I’m part of this community,” he said. “There is almost nothing available. My wife bought 250g of sugar yesterday for about $18. A kilo of flour, to make some bread, for $16. You need cash to pay for it, and you pay 35 or 40% commission. So for me to eat a salad will cost $40 or $50.” Nor, he emphasised, was Gaza facing a hunger crisis – or even Israel’s continuing military onslaught – in isolation. “It’s not just the denial of aid. It’s not just sanitation. It’s not just the lack of water. It’s not just the denial of vaccines. It’s not just displacement. It’s not just chronic patients without medicine. It’s not just 80% of hospitals destroyed. It’s all of those things together.” Is there any reason to hope that the process will improve? While the GHF has sought to emphasise the amount of food it has distributed so far, there are reasons to be sceptical that it will soon be able to start running the sites in a more orderly way. Its founding executive director, Jake Wood, quit last week, saying that it could not operate in a way that followed “humanitarian principles”; yesterday, he was replaced by Reverend Dr Johnnie Moore - who was appointed as a commissioner for international religious freedom by Donald Trump, but has no apparent experience of complex aid operations. Meanwhile, the Washington Post reported that Boston Consulting Group, which helped design the programme, had withdrawn its team working in Tel Aviv. Sources close to the operation told the Post that “it would be difficult for the foundation to continue to function without the consultants who helped create it”. As the situation worsens, Israel is facing growing diplomatic pressure from Europe, the UK, and Canada. But there has not yet been the kind of concrete action that might force Israel to reconsider – while the Trump administration continues to offer its unflagging support, and will likely veto a UN security council resolution demanding unfettered access for aid operations today. In those circumstances, it is difficult to see how the situation on the ground will improve. “People have no option but to keep coming,” Al-Shawa said. “They will be back tomorrow in search of food. But they will pay a price to get it, and the price is in lives.” | 