Against this, U.N. information reveals {that a} whole of 533 assist vans entered Gaza within the three days after Saturday. Extra broadly, U.N. figures present no enhance within the each day common of vans going into Gaza within the first week of April, in comparison with the earlier week.
The explanations for the discrepancy are usually not clear, however one is the differing strategies Israel and the United Nations use to trace vans, mentioned Jens Laerke, a spokesman for the U.N. humanitarian workplace.
Vehicles screened — and counted — by Israel on the two working border crossings normally enter Gaza solely half full, after Israeli inspectors prohibit a few of their contents, mentioned Mr. Laerke. As soon as inside Gaza, they’re unloaded, repacked as full vans and despatched to warehouses operated by the United Nations, which counts the variety of full vans that arrive, possible resulting in a decrease tally.
Different problems additionally imply that vans typically don’t move via a crossing and arrive at a warehouse in the identical day, that means the each day counts at crossings and the warehouses typically don’t match, he mentioned.
In an announcement on Wednesday, COGAT criticized the U.N.’s “flawed counting technique,” which it known as “an try to hide their logistical distribution difficulties.”
Earlier Israeli guarantees to scale up assist haven’t drastically elevated deliveries. Underneath U.S. strain in mid-December, Israel reopened one crossing to Gaza, Kerem Shalom, for assist vans, committing to allow 200 vans a day to enter. However assist businesses say that stringent Israeli inspections have saved the numbers far decrease than what is required.
And Mr. Laerke and different assist officers mentioned huge challenges stay to distributing the help inside Gaza, notably to the north, the place Israel has denied entry for UNRWA, the primary U.N. aid company working within the territory.
Aaron Boxerman contributed reporting.
