Israeli Aid and the Humanitarian Situation in Gaza

While Israel maintains an arms blockade of Gaza, it has maintained a steady and massive flow of humanitarian aid into the territory.

In the month of May 2011 alone, this totaled some 127,353 tons of goods.

That's over 150 pounds of aid per month – including food, clothing, and other supplies – for every single person in Gaza. Nearly 5,000 truckloads entered Gaza from Israel in May. In terms of food alone, this includes:

    376 truckloads of flour
    324 truckloads of wheat
    225 truckloads of fruit and vegetables
    142 truckloads of dairy products
    113 truckloads of meat and fish
    44 truckloads of milk powder and baby formula
    65 truckloads of rice
    59 truckloads of cooking oil
    492 truckloads of other food products

In the other direction, Israel granted permits to 3,612 Palestinians to enter Israel from Gaza in May 2011. Of these, 1,238 were for business purposes and 1,892 were for medical procedures (986 patients and 906 accompanying individuals).

On top of this, contrary to what many claim, Gaza in fact has been exporting goods to Europe. Since November of last year (the beginning of the season), this has included:

    368 tons of strawberries
    6.59 tons of cherry tomatoes
    6 tons of bell peppers
    9.7 million carnation flowers

Hamas has asserted that "there's no starvation in Gaza," and the Red Cross stated clearly: "There is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza If you go to the supermarket, there are products." From our research, the myth of a humanitarian crisis is distracting the world from actual humanitarian disasters around the world.