Aid deliveries to Gaza appeared to ramp up on Sunday following the first phase of a ceasefire there, as the Israeli- and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said it would shutter its aid distribution sites in the southern Strip over the coming days, during the release of the hostages.
The Israeli defense body in charge of humanitarian aid in Gaza, COGAT, has said that the amount of aid entering the Gaza Strip is expected to ramp up from Sunday to around 600 trucks per day — the amount the UN has said is needed to feed Gaza amid the war.
Egypt said it was sending 400 trucks carrying aid into Gaza on Sunday. The trucks will have to be inspected by Israeli forces before being allowed in.
There was no immediate comment from COGAT on whether the surge had begun.
Associated Press footage showed dozens of trucks crossing the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing. The Egyptian Red Crescent said the trucks included medical supplies, tents, blankets, food and fuel.
The trucks will then head to the inspection area in the Kerem Shalom crossing for screening by Israeli troops.
Footage from media outlets in Gaza also showed trucks passing through Khan Younis and Wadi Gaza, in the Strip’s center, on their way to Gaza City, in the north.
The trucks were guarded by club-wielding men whose identity and affiliation were unclear.
Other footage also showed Gazans walking around an abandoned Gaza Humanitarian Foundation aid distribution site in the Netzarim Corridor area of central Gaza.
The site of the controversial, US- and Israeli-backed group was abandoned as the IDF withdrew from the area on Friday, kicking off a 72-hour countdown for Hamas to release the remaining 48 hostages under the ceasefire deal.
In southern Gaza, according to the Kan public broadcaster, Israel asked the GHF to close its aid sites in areas under IDF control over the coming days to let the army concentrate on the release of the hostages and enable COGAT to handle the increase of aid entering Gaza as part of the deal with Hamas.
A source involved in the matter confirmed to The Times of Israel that the aid sites in Rafah are closed temporarily amid the hostage release, but said the sites will reopen afterward and be active during the ceasefire.
A spokesperson for GHF also confirmed that “over the next few days, during the transfer of the hostages to Israel, there will be tactical changes in GHF operations and temporary closures of some distribution sites may occur.”
“There is no change to our long-term plan,” the spokesperson added.
However, several Palestinians said Sunday that the GHF sites in Rafah and in central Gaza had been dismantled following the ceasefire deal.
Hoda Goda, who used to go to the GHF sites in Rafah earlier this year, said people had dismantled the structures and taken wood and metal fences GHF workers used to control the crowds.
Another Palestinian, Ehab Abu Majed, said the site in eastern Khan Younis was also dismantled, and there was no food distribution in the past two days. Ahmed al-Masri, a man living in the central Nuseirat refugee camp, said a third site in the Netzarim corridor area was also dismantled.
GHF began operating in May after nearly three months in which Israel blocked the flow of aid into Gaza following the collapse of the previous ceasefire.
The private group, which is staffed and secured by American contractors, was meant to circumvent Hamas in the delivery of aid, after Israel accused the terror group of systematically looting aid to Gaza since the war there was sparked when Hamas invaded Israel on October 7, 2023.
GHF was shunned by the UN and other aid groups who said its distribution plan placed Palestinian aid-seekers in danger. The agency’s operations were put under further scrutiny amid a period of near-daily reports of deadly Israeli gunfire in the vicinity of its aid sites.
In the meantime, amid an expanding Israeli offensive in Gaza City, the UN declared a famine in parts of northern Gaza, in an August report that Israel has rejected.
According to the ceasefire-hostage deal announced last week, international aid to the Gaza Strip is set to increase significantly during the truce. Hamas officials have claimed they were promised the aid would come through the UN and not other sources.
In recent months, the UN and its partners have been able to deliver only 20% of the aid needed in Gaza because of the fighting, border closures and Israeli restrictions on what enters, UN aid chief Tom Fletcher said last week, addig that the UN has about 170,000 metric tons of food, medicine and other humanitarian aid ready to enter Gaza once Israel gives its okay.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.