Is undelivered aid piling up in Gaza? Since late July, influencers invited by the Israeli army have been filming the Kerem Shalom border crossing in Gaza. They show what they claim is a stockpile of humanitarian aid, thus supporting the claim that Israel is not responsible for the famine currently under way in the enclave. However, the NGOs we spoke to reject the accusations. They describe the extreme difficulty and danger of delivering aid, which they say is still insufficient.
"Biscuits! Rotting in the sun." On August 27, Noa Cochva, Miss Israel 2021, was in Gaza at the Kerem Shalom crossing.
In several videos posted on her social media accounts, Cochva, who has become a key figure in promoting the official Israeli narrative, filmed herself in front of numerous pallets of food that had not been delivered. In her view, these images prove that there is no famine in Gaza and that Israel is "doing its part" in delivering aid.
"All of this equipment is supposed to be entering Gaza to get to the Palestinians ... but the UN never picked them up. Why isn't the UN collecting this aid?" she asks. "Instead of feeding civilians, the UN is feeding Hamas's propaganda machine," she argues in another post.
Like her, many other influencers and journalists were brought by the Israeli army - "embedded", in journalistic jargon - since July 2025 to visit this humanitarian aid hub. On August 26, pro-Trump American YouTuber Cam Highby also denounced, with supporting images in a 20-minute video report, the "endless amounts of food" stored at Kerem Shalom, showing bags of flour and cans of vegetables. "We could feed so many people," he said in the video.
The goal of the visits organised by the Israeli army is clear: to show that some of the humanitarian aid delivered to the enclave is not actually being redistributed and that Israel is therefore not responsible for the famine in Gaza, which was declared in mid-August in the Gaza governorate (in the north of the enclave) by the UN's Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC).
However, this view is rejected and nuanced by four humanitarian organisations we talked to. "Images of supplies piling up inside closed, militarised compounds in fact show what aid workers have not been facilitated in collecting and delivering," a spokesperson for the UN, the main organisation targeted by these criticisms, told our team.
On the Gaza side of Kerem Shalom, food and basic necessities are stored awaiting distribution by various humanitarian organisations in different areas of the Gaza Strip.
But all of the organisations involved face significant challenges in delivering this food once it arrives in Gaza.
"There are certain stocks of aid items at the entry of Gaza, but the broader context of these stocks is that of the challenges international organisations face," said Sarah Davies, spokesperson for the Red Cross, which sends aid trucks through Kerem Shalom whenever possible.
Aid organisations are pointing to numerous problems with the Israeli army's actions, including dangerous deliveries, a collapsing aid system, and administrative hurdles. They say these issues have severely hampered distribution, especially at Kerem Shalom.
Even accessing Kerem Shalom is very complicated for employees: "Kerem Shalom isn't a walk-up warehouse," the UN spokesperson told our team. "It's a heavily guarded, fenced-off military compound. For our drivers to access it, they need multiple approvals, a pause in bombing, and for the iron gates to open. The Israeli authorities decide what gets in or out, when, how much, and by whom."
Aid workers on the ground also stress that the humanitarian distribution system has been "decimated" after two years of war. Davies said: "There are no longer workers able to reach that location. There is no system in place anymore. It is difficult to move around, even to try to reach the civilian population, because people are displaced so often that they keep moving from one area to another."
According to Davies, Israel's total halt of humanitarian aid deliveries between March and May 2025 had a lasting impact on the distribution system, which took time to "rebuild" in order to become operational again.
All the organisations we talked to also highlight the security issues involved in delivering humanitarian aid once it enters Gaza. In late July, the UN reported that 87 percent of aid was intercepted or looted before distribution, either by the starving population or by armed groups, putting drivers in real danger.
Read moreNo, the UN did not say that 87% of Gaza's humanitarian aid is looted by Hamas
Security concerns are also a major factor slowing down aid, according to Davies: "With the ongoing hostilities, coordination is required in certain areas when leaving the crossing, and multiple discussions and coordination efforts are needed to ensure that the chosen route and destination are safe enough."
When questioned by our team, the World Central Kitchen (WCK) organisation, which brought in 581 food trucks in August to supply its on-site kitchens, referred us to its website, where it explains that "a secured humanitarian corridor is not currently available - that would provide the best opportunity for WCK and other organisations to reliably get food to kitchens".
The organisation, which suspended its activities at the end of November 2024 after three of its employees were killed by the Israeli army in a drone strike, says that its "supply trucks must adhere to strict direction from the IDF [the Israeli army] on the times, routes, and convoy sizes".
"Never before have so many humanitarian workers been killed in a contemporary conflict," said Jean-François Corty, president of the medical charity Médecins du Monde. In November 2023, one of the organisation's doctors, Maysara Rayyes, was killed in a bombing along with his family. Since the start of the war in Gaza, more than 400 humanitarian workers have been killed by the Israeli army.
The organisations we spoke to also pointed out the difficulties of accessing the affected areas. Davies said these obstacles include "rubble on the roads, which are themselves destroyed or damaged" or "areas that you can't go through due to hostilities, or because physically it is impossible". She also explained that the delivery trucks themselves "are not all four-wheel-drive vehicles" and cannot go everywhere. This is a significant issue, "especially when there are only very specific routes considered to be the safest".
According to the NGOs interviewed, all these obstacles slow down and prevent the smooth delivery of humanitarian aid. They also point out that securing aid is the responsibility of the Israeli army. "Under international humanitarian law, the occupying force is supposed to ensure the safety of aid workers and the delivery of food and medicine, even during a siege," Corty said. "More needs to be done, particularly on the Israeli side, as the occupying power in Gaza, to ensure that facilitating aid is a priority," Davies also told us.
Despite these undelivered stocks, all the organisations we contacted report that aid remains insufficient, especially since Israel broke the ceasefire agreement in March 2025.
Between March and April 2025, no trucks entered the enclave due to the blockade imposed by Israel. In May, only 31 trucks per day on average entered the Gaza Strip. The following month, an average of 61 trucks per day were allowed to enter. This is a very insufficient total, given that international organisations have been stating since the beginning of the war that 500 to 600 trucks of humanitarian aid are needed every day.
It was only on July 27 that Israel agreed to allow more humanitarian aid to enter via Kerem Shalom and to organise tactical pauses under pressure from the international community. In August, an average of 185 trucks entered Gaza each day, according to data from Cogat, the Israeli body responsible for civil administration in Gaza. However, this total is still insufficient given the demands of humanitarian organisations.
This has led to calls for a ceasefire that could help deliver and secure humanitarian aid, and allow for the rebuilding of the distribution system. The UN points out that humanitarian aid was successfully delivered during the ceasefire between January and February, when security and administrative conditions were more favourable. "Whenever Israeli authorities have allowed us to operate at scale, we've reached virtually everyone in need with lifesaving support - wherever they were."