The New Arab News MENA Israel cuts agreed aid by half for Gaza over 'slow release' of captives - 15 October, 2025

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Israel cuts agreed aid by half for Gaza over 'slow release' of captives

Israel has reduced the number of trucks entering Gaza by half, citing the 'slow release' of captives' bodies, which Hamas said were difficult to locate.

15 October, 2025

Israel is also disallowing the entry of gas and fuel into Gaza except for needs related to humanitarian infrastructure [Getty/file photo]

Israel will only allow half the agreed number of aid trucks into Gaza starting on Wednesday, according to a note seen by Reuters and confirmed by the United Nations, in a setback to hopes food and supplies would be quickly ramped up to ease famine in the enclave.

COGAT, the Israeli military arm that oversees aid flows into Gaza, also notified the UN that no fuel or gas will be allowed into the enclave except for specific needs related to humanitarian infrastructure. COGAT did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

COGAT blamed Hamas for a slow release of captive bodies for the decision to limit aid trucks to 300 daily. The group has said locating the bodies is difficult.

"Hamas violated the agreement regarding the release of the bodies of the hostages held in the Gaza Strip. As a result, the political leadership has decided to impose a number of sanctions related to the humanitarian agreement that was reached," read the COGAT note.

So far, Hamas has handed over four coffins of dead captives, leaving at least 23 presumed dead and one unaccounted for still in Gaza. The group informed mediators it will begin transferring four more bodies to Israel later on Tuesday.

"We have received this communication from the Israeli authorities," Olga Cherevko, a spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Gaza, told reporters. "We certainly very much hope that the bodies of the hostages are handed over and that the ceasefire continues to be implemented."

COGAT had said on Friday that it expected about 600 aid trucks to enter Gaza daily during the ceasefire. COGAT told the UN that 817 trucks had entered Gaza on Sunday, said Cherevko. It was not immediately clear how many trucks entered on Monday, deputy UN spokesperson Farhan Haq said.

"Crossings are not open today for the entry of supplies from the Israeli side, but we are collecting supplies from within Gaza today," Haq said on Tuesday.

Israel requires aid to be offloaded from trucks on the Palestinian side of the border, where it then has to be collected by the U.N. and aid groups already in Gaza.

Crossings need to open, aid agencies say

Israel has delayed plans to open the southern Rafah border crossing to Egypt, three Israeli officials said earlier on Tuesday.

"We need all crossings open. The longer Rafah stays closed the more the suffering prolongs for people in Gaza, especially those displaced in the South," UNICEF spokesperson Ricardo Pires said. US President Donald Trump declared an end to the war on Monday as the last living Israeli hostages were swapped for Palestinian detainees, raising expectations that aid supplies would be rushed into the enclave where a global hunger monitor has warned hundreds of thousands of people face famine.

"We are still witnessing only few trucks coming in, and large crowds approaching these trucks in a way that does absolutely not conform to humanitarian standards," ICRC spokesperson Christian Cardon told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday.

The UN World Food Programme said on Tuesday that it has brought in 137 trucks since the weekend. Aid agencies are seeking to rapidly scale up supplies to people in Gaza City, where up to 400,000 people have not received assistance for several weeks, according to the WFP.

UNICEF spokesperson Tess Ingram said it has been able to bring in dozens of trucks with life-saving supplies, such as family tents, plastic tarpaulin sheets, winter clothes and hygiene kits.

The UN and aid groups have been able to move more freely across parts of Gaza from which Israeli forces have withdrawn, Haq said. Throughout the war the UN had complained of obstacles to delivering and distributing aid in Gaza, blaming impediments on Israel and lawlessness.

"This improved access has allowed partners to scale up the response to the most urgent needs," he said.

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Agencies face ongoing restrictions

Around 50 international aid groups, including the Norwegian Refugee Council, CARE and Oxfam, have still not received clearance for supplies to enter as they face ongoing registration barriers.

"We're in this limbo ... The needs of a population that has experienced famine over a period of months is not going to be met with a few trucks," Bushra Khalidi, an Oxfam policy adviser said.

COGAT previously said that aid trucks operated by the U.N. and "approved international organizations", the private sector, and donor countries would be allowed to enter Gaza. Catholic Relief Services has, however, received permission to bring in supplies with shelter as a priority, Jason Knapp, an official with the organization, told Reuters from Gaza.

US-backed aid group pauses operations

 The controversial US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said it has temporarily paused its operations. It last distributed aid on Friday and has dismantled one of its four distribution sites, said a GHF spokesperson, adding that the site could reopen elsewhere in Gaza. The GHF says it currently has funding to continue operating until the end of November and that while it would make "tactical adjustments" to its operations, it was still committed to delivering aid to as many people in Gaza as possible. Israel and the United States wanted the UN to work through the GHF, but the UN refused, questioning the neutrality of the GHF and accusing the distribution model of militarising aid and forcing displacement.

More than 1,000 Palestinians were killed as they sought aid at GHF sites, often by Israeli soldiers or American mercenaries. 

Unexploded bombs pose 'enormous' risks in Gaza, NGO warns

The Handicap International NGO warned that the risk of unexploded bombs is aggravated in the territory by the limited space in densely-populated Gaza.

Unexploded ordnance in Gaza poses "enormous" risks for displaced people returning home during a US-led ceasefire, the NGO Handicap International warned on Tuesday, calling for the entry of equipment needed for demining.

"The risks are enormous - an estimated 70,000 tons of explosives have been dropped on Gaza" since the start of the war, said Anne-Claire Yaeesh, the organisation's director for the Palestinian territories.

Handicap International specialises in mine clearance and assistance to victims of anti-personnel mines.

Unexploded ordnance, ranging from undetonated bombs or grenades to simple bullets, has become a common sight in the Gaza Strip during the two years of the war, sparked by Hamas's unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

"The layers of rubble and levels of accumulation are extremely high," Yaeesh said.

She warned that the risks are aggravated by the "extremely complex" nature of the environment, due to the limited space in densely populated urban areas.

In January, the UN's Mine Action Service (UNMAS) estimated that "5 to 10 percent" of the munitions fired on Gaza had not exploded.

Since then, fighting has continued, with the Israeli army notably launching a large-scale operation in mid-September in Gaza City.

A ceasefire, the third since the start of the war, came into effect on Friday in the Gaza Strip.

Contacted by AFP, UNMAS said that due to restrictions imposed over the past two years, its teams had "not been able to conduct large-scale survey operations in Gaza", and the agency therefore does not have "a comprehensive picture of the (explosive ordnance) threat in the Strip."

Explosive hazards on roads

Nicholas Orr, a former UK military deminer who worked in Gaza for Handicap International, told AFP in March that he was unable to obtain permission to conduct bomb disposal in Gaza, as Israeli aerial surveillance could have mistaken him for a militant attempting to repurpose unexploded ordnance into weapons.

UNMAS nonetheless stressed that since the ceasefire came into effect on October 10 requests for technical expertise "have surged", and the agency has been called upon for "a range of humanitarian missions including to areas that were previously inaccessible".

In the coming days, "a large part of the efforts will focus on ensuring the safety of debris management operations" and clearing rubble, particularly along the roads used by the thousands of displaced people returning home.

While the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said on Monday that humanitarian workers would "assess key roads for explosive hazards", UNMAS stated that it has "a limited number of armoured vehicles on the ground which means that we can only conduct a certain number of explosive hazard assessments each day".

The United Nations agency also said it had not yet obtained authorisation from Israeli authorities to bring in the necessary equipment for the destruction of unexploded ordnance.

At the moment, UNMAS said it had three armoured vehicles "at the border waiting to enter Gaza, which will allow safer and larger-scale operations".