Aid to Gaza remains near an all-time low a month after the United States said it would not halt arms transfers to Israel because it had seen "some progress" in enabling humanitarian aid to reach the devastated enclave, the Financial Times reported on Monday.

Washington said at the time (12/11/2024) that it expected Israel to work to improve conditions for Palestinians in the blockaded territory. But humanitarian officials say conditions have worsened, with looting choking off supplies at a key aid access point and Israeli forces killing Palestinians guarding convoys against theft.

About 1,700 trucks have entered the Strip this month through December 12, according to U.N. data, just over 100 more than the previous month, when aid deliveries reached their lowest levels since the start of Israel's war with Hamas.

“It got to the point where we were lucky if we could get half a truck in,” said Louise Waterridge, UNRWA’s emergency officer in Gaza. “People can’t have a day where they just know: ‘My family is going to eat.’”

Central and southern Gaza, where most of the population now lives, have faced increasing hunger. Desperate Palestinians have stormed bakeries, some even being crushed to death. Three people suffocated in a food queue in central Gaza on 29 November.

Flour is so scarce that a single bag costs $162, according to a joint report by more than a dozen aid groups including Save the Children and the International Rescue Committee published on Dec. 13.

On October 13, the US secretaries of state and defense wrote to the Israeli government, which controls all crossings into Gaza, giving it 30 days to “increase all forms of humanitarian assistance” to the Strip and “end the isolation of northern Gaza” immediately, warning that military aid could be at risk if conditions did not improve.

A month later, the United States said it would not withhold military aid, saying it had seen "some progress," despite warnings from aid groups that conditions were deteriorating.

Aid workers said most of the little food that does enter the Strip is stolen because Israel only allows aid trucks to follow routes rife with looting by organized gangs.

Meanwhile, Israel regularly blocks or delays humanitarian missions from reaching Gaza, with all UN attempts to deliver aid to the besieged north denied or obstructed between November 13 and December 10, the report said.

The United States has pointed to Israel's opening of the Kissufim crossing into central Gaza as a sign of improvement, but only 67 trucks entered through there last month. Looting has also hampered deliveries there.

“It is not enough for Israel to drop aid at the border and open one gate,” Bushra Khalidi, Oxfam’s head of policy, told the newspaper. “They need to open all land routes simultaneously and ensure protection for the unfettered response of aid inside Gaza as well.”

UNRWA halted aid deliveries through the Kerem Shalom crossing, the main entry point for humanitarian aid into the southern and central Gaza Strip, on December 1 after looting made it impossible to operate. The World Food Programme had already suspended aid pickups at the crossing.

A senior UN official told the Financial Times that subsequent US pressure may have prompted Israel to allow the organisations to take an alternative route into Gaza from the Kerem Shalom crossing.

Four senior humanitarian officials and a Palestinian transport official said aid convoys on the alternative route had reached their destinations with unprecedented success for two days.

They said a convoy of more than 100 trucks reached their destination without any being looted on Wednesday night after community members lined the streets to protect the aid from thieves.

But the next day, before a third convoy was due to set off, Israeli forces opened fire on Palestinians planning to provide protection for the trucks, four humanitarian officials and a Palestinian transport official said.

Two aid workers said at least 20 people were killed. Only one of more than 70 trucks in the convoy made it through, while the rest were looted. Asked about the incident, the Israel Defense Forces said it had struck Hamas operatives who were planning to steal the aid trucks.

"The IDF continues to operate with precision against the Hamas terrorist organization and takes every measure to minimize harm to uninvolved civilians, and will continue to act in accordance with international law to enable and facilitate the transfer of humanitarian aid to the residents of the Gaza Strip," he said.

The Israeli military body responsible for humanitarian affairs in Gaza, known as COGAT, did not respond to questions about humanitarian aid and looting.