San Francisco Frontiers - Aid agencies ready Gaza push but warn of mammoth obstacles

Announcing the truce, United States President Joe Biden said on Wednesday it would "surge much needed humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians".

The United Nations' humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher called it "a moment of hope and opportunity" but said "we should be under no illusions how tough it will still be to get support to survivors."

On the ground in the territory, where nearly all 2.4 million people have been displaced at least once, aid workers worry nothing will be enough to meet the need.

"Everything has been destroyed. Children are on the streets. You can't pinpoint just one priority," Doctors Without Borders (MSF) coordinator Amande Bazerolle told AFP by phone from Gaza.

Speaking from the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis, Mohammed al-Khatib, of Medical Aid for Palestinians, said local aid workers haven't stopped for 15 months even though they themselves are displaced.

"Everyone is exhausted," he said.

In the hunger-striken makeshift shelters set up in former schools, bombed-out houses and cemeteries, hundreds of thousands lack even plastic sheeting to protect from winter rains and biting winds, Gavin Kelleher, of the Norwegian Refugee Council, told AFP.

- Aid surge 'not feasible' -

Even if the bombs stop, agencies like his have to focus on the basics of emergency response, including bringing in "tarpaulins, rope and fixtures to close gaping holes" in buildings.

"At least until we stop seeing children dying of hypothermia," he said via text message from Gaza.

By last week, hypothermia had killed at least eight people -- four newborns, three infants and one adult -- according to a health ministry toll used by the World Health Organisation.

On Wednesday, Egypt's state-linked Al-Qahera News reported coordination was underway to reopen the Rafah crossing on the Gaza border. It was one of the main humanitarian entry points but has been closed since Israeli forces seized the Palestinian side in May.

The truce is based on a plan Biden presented in mid-2024 that foresaw a surge in aid to 600 trucks per day, or more than eight times the December average reported by the United Nations.

The World Food Programme said Thursday it had enough food for one million people "waiting outside Gaza or on its way".

On the Egyptian side of the border, a source in the Egyptian Red Crescent told AFP up to 1,000 trucks are waiting "for their entry into Gaza".

But with air strikes continuing to pound the territory, where aid groups and the UN have regularly accused Israel of impeding aid flows -- which Israeli denies -- aid workers were sceptical.

MSF's Bazerolle said the promise of hundreds of trucks a day "is not even feasible technically".

"Since Rafah has been destroyed, the infrastructure is not there to be able to cope with that level of logistics," she explained, with bombs audible in the background.

- New 'chapter of suffering' -

Aid that does arrive is subject to looting by both armed gangs and desperate civilians.

"The Israelis have targeted the police, so there's no one to protect the shipments" from looting, which Bazerolle said will continue "as long as there's not enough aid entering".

After more than a year of the "systematic dismantling of the rule of law" in Gaza, NRC's Kelleher called for "the resumption of a Palestinian civilian police force."

The situation is especially dire in northern Gaza.

Bazerolle, who says MSF missions in the area have been targeted by Israel, says the group hopes to send teams to the north "to at least treat patients where they are," in the absence of hospitals.

According to the WHO, only one hospital, Al-Awda, is partially functioning in the north.

WHO's Rik Peeperkorn said that, in addition to hospital capacity, his agency will focus on "the very basic things" including water, electricity and waste management systems in Gaza.

Still, the displaced will hope to head back -- including Khatib himself -- if the truce holds.

Many, he said, "will return to find their entire neighbourhoods destroyed" and without food or shelter.

"People aren't even talking about rebuilding their houses, but just the most basic essential needs," he continued.

"We're closing one chapter of suffering and opening a new one," he predicted, before adding: "At least there is some hope of the bloodshed ending."

W.Thompson--SFF