With the global attention fixated on the diplomatic efforts to end the war on Iran, Israel has systematically escalated its attacks on Gaza and choked off vital aid, plunging the besieged enclave into what economic experts are now calling an \u201cengineered, compounded famine\u201d.<\/p>\n
The number of aid trucks entering Gaza has dropped drastically in violation of the October 2025 ceasefire with Hamas. Since then, the Government Media Office in Gaza has recorded 2,400 military violations by Israeli forces, resulting in the killing of more than 700 Palestinians.<\/p>\n list of 4 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n On Tuesday, Israel\u2019s military killed<\/a> at least 11 Palestinians, including two children, in separate attacks across the war-torn Strip.<\/p>\n The intensity of these attacks spiked during peak regional tensions. Between February 28 and April 8, while Israel and the US were engaged in a bombing campaign against Iran, Israeli forces bombed Gaza on 36 out of those 40 days.<\/p>\n In the last five weeks alone, more than 100 people have been killed, including Al Jazeera journalist Mohammed Wishah<\/a>. Israel has killed more than 72,336 people since launching the brutal military offensive on October 7, 2023.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n While Israel frequently claims it is allowing hundreds of aid trucks into Gaza, Palestinian officials and economic experts argue these figures are a deliberate mathematical deception.<\/p>\n According to the Government Media Office, only 41,714 aid and commercial trucks have entered Gaza over the past six months. This represents a mere 37 percent of the 110,400 trucks stipulated under the ceasefire agreement. The fuel situation is even more critical, with only 1,366 fuel trucks entering out of a promised 9,200 \u2013 an abysmal 14 percent compliance rate.<\/p>\n Recent daily logs highlight the severity of the bottleneck. On April 13, a total of only 102 aid trucks and 7 fuel trucks were allowed into the entire Strip, alongside 216 commercial trucks \u2013 a fraction of the more than 600 total trucks required daily under the \u201cceasefire\u201d deal. By April 14, the numbers remained critically low with 122 aid trucks and 12 fuel trucks entering.<\/p>\n Crucially, Israeli authorities entirely shut down additional entry points like the Zikim and Kissufim crossings, which had processed dozens of commercial and aid trucks just a day prior, bottlenecking all limited traffic exclusively through Karem Abu Salem.<\/p>\n Mohammed Abu Jayyab, a Palestinian economic expert based in Gaza, told Al Jazeera that Israel utilises a \u201ctechnical and commercial deception\u201d to inflate these numbers.<\/p>\n \u201cAn Israeli truck carries up to 32 or 34 pallets\u2026 which are then unloaded into two or three smaller, dilapidated Palestinian trucks on the Gaza side,\u201d Abu Jayyab explained. \u201cConsequently, the UN and Israel count double or triple the actual number of Israeli trucks entering.\u201d One pallet holds roughly 1 tonne of goods or food items.<\/p>\n Furthermore, Israel recently banned mixed-load shipments. If a merchant brings in 20 pallets of sugar, the remaining 12 pallet spaces on the truck must remain empty, yet it is still registered as a full commercial truck.<\/p>\n \u201cThe political agreement stipulated a \u2018truck\u2019 but did not specify quantities, weights, or the number of pallets,\u201d Abu Jayyab noted, allowing Israel to weaponise logistics to restrict aid while appearing compliant.<\/p>\nRecommended Stories <\/h2>\n
The \u2018truck deception\u2019<\/h2>\n
Engineering starvation<\/h2>\n
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