Aid Agencies decry lack of help as top Biden official says famine taking hold

A surge in aid into Gaza that Benjamin Netanyahu promised Joe Biden a week ago has so far failed to materialise, aid workers said, as the US aid chief confirmed that famine was beginning to take hold in parts of the besieged coastal strip.

- Emma Graham-Harrison, Julian Borger

A key port has not been opened to aid shipments, and a new crossing into northern Gaza has officially opened but UN agencies are not yet allowed to use it, even though they provide the vast majority of food aid for the territory. The reported increase in the number of trucks crossing into Gaza claimed by Israel also conflicts with UN records and already appears to be faltering.

"There is a lot less than meets the eye so far," said Jeremy Konyndyk, a former senior official in the Biden administration who is now president of the Refugees International aid advocacy organisation. "Very little has actually changed."

Israel denies that famine is stalking Gaza, and has for months blamed lack of food, medicine and other basic supplies on Hamas stealing from civilians, or poor logistics by humanitarian groups. But it is under increasing pressure from allies, particularly the US, over the unfolding humanitarian catastrophe.

On Thursday, the defence minister, Yoav Gallant, promised to "flood Gaza with aid", comments that underlined the country's control of what goes into the strip. Humanitarians have been calling for a "flood of aid" to stave off starvation for weeks.

"It is very clear who is responsible for the siege," said Juliette Touma of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa, which provides most of the food aid into Gaza. "The siege was imposed by the Israeli authorities. It is a political decision, so it can be reversed by another political decision." One of Netanyahu's pledges to Biden, to open the Ashdod port north of Gaza as a portal to seaborne humanitarian aid, has led to no action yet, according to Israel's coordinator of government activities in the territories (Cogat).