Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

• Egypt first opened its borders for aid deliveries into Gaza on Oct. 21, and since then, 54 trucks with medical supplies had entered Gaza as of Oct. 23, according to the U.N.
• But the U.N. and other international aid groups are warning that the 2.3 million people living in Gaza remain in dire need of more clean water, food, fuel and medical care.
• The U.N.’s relief agency in Gaza, UNRWA, is also saying that without more fuel, it will have to stop its work on everything from providing medical care to setting up shelters for displaced people on Oct. 25.
• Safely delivering aid in Gaza has unique complications – including the fact that the U.S. and the European Union classify Hamas as a terrorist group.

What are the challenges with providing aid in conflict zones like Gaza?

• There are often security issues that may affect an aid group’s access to a population.
• And there is the risk that aid workers will be attacked, as has happened increasingly over the last several years.
• There are also concerns about aid, which is intended only for civilians, being diverted for military purposes.

How do politics affect humanitarian work, which is supposed to be neutral?

• We are not addressing the underlying causal issues related to a crisis.
• But the politics surrounding an emergency are still often a major, complicating factor in our work.
• Or, there is a concern that the aid may not get to where it is most needed, such as all hospitals throughout Gaza.

How does Hamas factor into this planning?

The U.S. and the European Union have very strict rules that will block the financial assets of organizations that give money or support to Hamas, or any other organization they classify as a terrorist group. These sanctions also prohibit any direct contact between aid groups and a listed terrorist organization like Hamas.

Can you give an example of what this looks like in practice?

• I arrived in Afghanistan immediately after the Taliban took over in 2021 with the World Health Organization.
• We needed to find new ways of doing work, in order to bypass the Taliban and the Ministry of Public Health, which the former now controlled.
• This disruption created challenges in terms of both distributing aid quickly and in terms of sustainability, as many of the employees at the ministry left.

What are the long-term effects of navigating around governments that are classified by some countries as terrorist groups?

• While this may work in the short term and save lives, these parallel systems have longer-term, negative effects.
• Government officials may leave their jobs for higher-paying jobs in the U.N. and with NGOs, for example.
• Despite the various challenges I have mentioned in this discussion, I believe that humanity must prevail, over all other aspects.

Paul Spiegel does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

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