Germany says 'very insufficient' aid entering Gaza

The amount of aid entering Gaza remains “very insufficient” despite a limited improvement, the German government said on Saturday after ministers discussed ways to heighten pressure on Israel.

The criticism came after Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul visited the region on Thursday and Friday and the German military staged its first food airdrops into Gaza, where aid agencies say that more than two million Palestinians are facing starvation.

Germany “notes limited initial progress in the delivery of humanitarian aid to the population of the Gaza Strip, which, however, remains very insufficient to alleviate the emergency situation,” government spokesman Stefan Kornelius said in a statement.

“Israel remains obligated to ensure the full delivery of aid,” Kornelius added.

Facing mounting international criticism over its military operations in Gaza, Israel has allowed more trucks to cross the border and some foreign nations to carry out airdrops of food and medicines.

International agencies say the amount of aid entering Gaza is still dangerously low, however.

The United Nations has said that 6,000 trucks are awaiting permission from Israel to enter the occupied Palestinian territory.

The German government, traditionally a strong supporter of Israel, also expressed “concern regarding reports that large quantities of humanitarian aid are being withheld by Hamas and criminal organisations”.

Israel has alleged that much of the aid arriving in the territory is being siphoned off by Hamas, which runs Gaza.

The Israeli army is accused of having equipped Palestinian criminal networks in its fight against Hamas and of allowing them to plunder aid deliveries.

“The real theft of aid since the beginning of the war has been carried out by criminal gangs, under the watch of Israeli forces,” Jonathan Whittall of OCHA, the United Nations agency for coordinating humanitarian affairs, told reporters in May.

A German government source told AFP it had noted that Israel has “considerably” increased the number of aid trucks allowed into Gaza to about 220 a day.

Berlin has taken a tougher line against Israel’s actions in Gaza and the occupied West Bank in recent weeks.

The source said that a German security cabinet meeting on Saturday discussed “the different options” for putting pressure on Israel, but no decision was taken.

A partial suspension of arms deliveries to Israel is one option that has been raised.