How is aid getting into Gaza?

Safe and unimpeded aid access is desperately needed in Gaza. But how is aid being delivered now?

DONATE to the GAZA CRISIS APPEAL

Last updated 30 April 2025

For months, the humanitarian situation in Gaza has grown more desperate by the day.

Since 2023, the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) has distributed more than 1.6 million emergency relief items and processed more than 22,000 trucks of humanitarian aid.

But with aid access restricted, people have lived through immense pain, suffering and hunger.

The January 2025 ceasefire agreement gave millions of people in Gaza respite from relentless suffering. Families that were torn apart were reunited or able to put their loved ones to rest.  

The subsequent increase in fighting and the pause in aid delivery in Gaza is a grave development that has left the lives of millions of people in the balance.  

Despite security risks, dwindling supplies and access restrictions, the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) has continued to operate in Gaza, day in and day out. With aid cut off, the lives of millions of people are hanging in the balance. 

• What is happening in Gaza?

Is aid getting into Gaza?

For more than 50 days now, no humanitarian aid has entered Gaza. People are on the brink, struggling to find food, unable to access clean water and living without safe shelter. 

The situation on the ground is ever-changing, but there had been a significant increase in the volume of aid crossing the border after the ceasefire agreement came into place in January 2025. 

From the start of the ceasefire agreement to 1 February, PRCS received 164 trucks through the Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings.

The Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is ready to significantly increase aid deliveries across borders and distribution within Gaza, led by PRCS in Gaza, ERCS at the border with Egypt, and facilitated by the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC). 

What's the humanitarian situation like in Gaza?

“Since the beginning of March no aid, including food, medicine, and essential humanitarian supplies, has entered Gaza," says Gabriel Karlsson, the British Red Cross's country cluster manager for the Middle East and North Africa. "The aid getting into Gaza was already entirely insufficient to meet the dire needs, but now for more than 50 days, there has been a complete halt on the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza.

"No aid trucks means more families struggling to find food, more families unable to access clean water, more families left to live without adequate shelter, and more families left in in desperate need of healthcare. Facilitating access to essential, life-saving assistance is an obligation under International Humanitarian Law."

Amid an ever-changing situation, PRCS is working tirelessly on the ground to provide essential support.  

What’s the quickest and best way to get aid into Gaza?

The quickest way to get aid into Gaza is through established crossings like Rafah, Kerem Shalom/Karem Abu Salem and Erez/Beit Hanoun.

Land-based delivery remains the most effective way to deliver aid into Gaza, as these roads are the main arteries for aid delivery and so have the greatest capacity. This approach is sustainable, reliable and has been successful in the past.

How has the Red Crescent been getting aid into Gaza?

Colleagues from the Palestine Red Crescent and the Egyptian Red Crescent have been working day and night, delivering assistance.

They have done so for over a year, playing a critical role in getting aid across the border and distributed to people in Gaza.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society are one of very few humanitarian actors who are present in Gaza itself - from north to south.

“The Palestine Red Crescent Society are one of very few humanitarian actors who are present in Gaza itself, throughout the Gaza strip from the south to the north,” says Sumiko, who was recently deployed with the IFRC to act as an operations manager.

“They have been providing assistance, not just now because of the recent conflict, but throughout the history of the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”

How has Egypt been supporting aid efforts into Gaza?

“The Egyptian Red Crescent has played a huge, huge, huge role in getting humanitarian assistance into Gaza through that border", Sumiko continues.

“They are receiving and transporting goods from the EU, governments and different partner National Societies, whoever has donated. They were also mandated by the government to play that logistics role.

Checking each truckload, repackaging, sorting and transporting the aid for screening can take days. The Egyptian Red Crescent has established large-scale warehouses by the border to handle incoming aid, and have delivered 20,000 trucks to date.

On the other side of the Rafah border, the Palestine Red Crescent has been receiving all aid deliveries so that they can be distributed to those in need. This means loading and unloading every truck by hand, to ensure the flow of aid.

Has the Red Crescent managed to deliver aid into Gaza?

Yes – they have worked tirelessly since October 2023.

To date, the Palestine Red Crescent has processed over 22,700 trucks of humanitarian aid, distributing over 1.6 million emergency relief items including food parcels, hygiene kits, blankets and tents. 

How has the British Red Cross been supporting?

During crises like the conflict in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank, the entire Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement comes together.

The British Red Cross is directly supporting Magen David Adom in Israel and the Palestine Red Crescent Society, to respond to their communities’ urgent needs.

Your donations have been invaluable in helping to fund this response.

How can more aid get into Gaza?

Though Gaza is facing a crisis that will not be healed by aid alone, aid agencies must be allowed to deliver humanitarian assistance at a faster pace – and safely.

This will vastly improve people’s chances of survival. Aid agencies, including the Red Cross and Red Crescent, are here to safeguard civilian life and uphold human dignity.

How can people in the UK help people in Gaza?

Through a huge, sustained effort over a long period of time, we can avert an even greater catastrophe. We're on the ground and ready. Let's be there for people in Gaza.

• If you can, please donate to the Gaza Crisis appeal