Humanitarian Aid Blockages and Legal Scrutiny in Gaza

The Gaza Strip has remained under a strict humanitarian-aid regime since the ceasefire that followed the October 2023 conflict. Israeli authorities, through the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), control the entry of medical and assistive equipment. At the same time, families of foreign aid workers killed in an April 2024 airstrike have sought an expanded inquest that could implicate both Israeli and foreign officials. These parallel developments illustrate the ongoing tension between security measures and the delivery of life-saving assistance to Gaza’s civilian population.

Jewish News Syndicate

• More than 900 wheelchairs donated by two Australian charities are stored in Jordanian warehouses because COGAT has not approved their inclusion in an aid convoy.

Common Dreams

• UNICEF estimates that over 11,000 children in Gaza have sustained severe, life-changing injuries requiring long-term rehabilitation.

Common Dreams

• An inquest is examining the deaths of three British aid workers—John Chapman, Jim Henderson and James Kirby (47)—who were killed when an airstrike struck their convoy in April 2024. The same strike also killed an Australian aid worker, a Polish aid worker, a Palestinian aid worker and a U.S. aid worker.

The Guardian

• An Israeli government source told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that Israel had not blocked the wheelchairs, though COGAT did not answer detailed questions about the shipment.

Common Dreams

• Maria Voisin, senior coroner for Avon, indicated that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Colonel Nochi Mendel, who ordered the April 2024 strike, may be designated as “interested parties” in the British inquest.

The Guardian

• The families of the deceased have asked the inquest to consider whether UK-origin weaponry was used and whether a Royal Air Force surveillance flight over Gaza on the day of the attack contributed to the incident.

The Guardian

• Human Rights Watch has criticized the “dual-use” label applied by Israeli authorities, arguing that it is “unnecessarily broad and arbitrary” and leads to inconsistent acceptance of items such as wheelchair batteries, X-ray equipment and prosthetic-limb materials.

Common Dreams

• Amnesty International described the pattern of blocking medical and humanitarian supplies—including food, water, fuel, shelter materials and assistive devices—as part of a “genocide” against Gaza’s civilian population.

Common Dreams

• “The humanitarian aid must not stop,” — Dr. Abdullah Al-Balawi, a physician with the Palestinian Australian New Zealand Medical Association

Common Dreams

• A further pre-inquest review is scheduled for March in Flax Bourton, near Bristol. No date has been set for the final hearing.

The Guardian

• The pending status of the wheelchair shipment remains unchanged, with COGAT’s application still marked as “pending” after 19 months. Human-rights organisations continue to call for the removal of the dual-use restriction on medical-related supplies.

Common Dreams