Page 14 - LUA September-October 2025 for Magzter

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Keeping Aid Moving
IN WAR-TORN

GAZA

When war fractures daily life, humanitarian logistics becomes
the invisible lifeline that determines whether civilians have food, Aid shipments require specific UN2720
hospitals have electricity, and families can survive another day. permits and must comply with the
Nowhere is this more evident than in Gaza, where conflict has Coordinator of Government Activities in
turned the delivery of humanitarian aid into one of the most the Territories (COGAT’s) preferences for
how relief enters Israel, a bottleneck that
complex logistical challenges in the world, reports Titus John. slows the flow of urgent supplies.
Delays are not simply administrative
n humanitarian crises, speed and BORDER CROSSINGS AND inconveniences. Each day of waiting
access are paramount. Yet in Gaza, BUREAUCRATIC HURDLES increases costs and risks. Humanitarian
both are hostage to an array of Unlike many other crisis-hit regions, cargo, whether food, medical supplies,
Ibottlenecks: restricted border crossings, Gaza presents a uniquely layered or trauma kits, is procured for urgent
unpredictable clearance processes, scarce system of approvals and restrictions. needs. Warehousing prolongs storage
storage facilities, and dangers faced by Humanitarian organizations must secure fees, risks expiration, and ties up capital
aid workers themselves. For logistics specific UN2720 permits and navigate that could otherwise be deployed for
coordinators on the ground and their the Israeli authority’s regulations and new relief operations.
partners abroad, every convoy that makes preferences for how aid is routed.
it across is the result of painstaking Humanitarian group Airlink says HUMAN COST OF DELAYS
planning, delicate negotiations, and one of the toughest challenges is simply Behind the logistics lies a sobering
extraordinary persistence. getting aid across the border and into reality: delayed aid translates into lives
Gaza. While the need on the ground lost or prolonged suffering. Hospitals
is undeniable, the process is unusually depend on timely deliveries of fuel,
lengthy compared to other crisis zones. medical equipment, and pharmaceuticals.
Families rely on food parcels and clean
water distribution. And aid organizations
themselves are increasingly vulnerable.
Airlink notes that humanitarian aid
workers face unprecedented levels of
danger. In March 2025, new registration
requirements announced by the Israeli
government added further uncertainty.

12 LUA