On the road with the truck drivers carrying aid to Gaza

Mustafa Kadri looked ahead through the windshield and back in the rearview mirror, where a long convoy of vehicles was making its way towards the Jordan Valley. We were traversing a landscape of sand-colored rocks, gradually descending towards the Dead Sea, Israel, and ultimately, Gaza.

The convoy must first pass through Israeli customs at the King Hussein/Allenby Bridge border crossing. Then, it will proceed to the Erez crossing to enter Gaza, where aid will be transferred to local drivers from the World Food Programme. Mustafa is heading to an area where Israeli settlers have blocked roads, and inside the war zone, criminal gangs hijack aid trucks. But on this sunny winter morning, the driver is happy.

"We are transporting aid, such as food and medicine, for our brothers in Gaza," he said. The word "brothers" recurred throughout his responses. He was referring not just to shared humanity or Arab brotherhood, but also to the fact that many Jordanians have Palestinian ancestry. "Delivering this aid is a good deed. It makes me happy," Mustafa said.

The drivers waved to onlookers and honked their horns. Gaza is a popular cause in Jordan. The noise mingled with the sirens of a police escort, which included two trucks mounted with machine guns. Of course, these escorts would not enter Israel, let alone Gaza. This latest mission, involving 120 trucks, is the largest since the start of the war in October 2023. Jordan's aid operation demonstrates to the people of Gaza that, at least, their neighbors have not forgotten them. King Abdullah II of Jordan has personally pushed the kingdom's efforts to send food, medicine, and fuel to Gaza.

The international community has pledged to increase aid following a ceasefire. "It is imperative that a ceasefire remove the major security and political obstacles to delivering aid throughout Gaza," said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. "The humanitarian situation has reached catastrophic levels." 90% of Gaza's 2.2 million people have been displaced. Up to 2 million people are dependent on aid.

Previously, the UN and aid agencies have accused Israel of repeatedly blocking or delaying the distribution of vital food, medicine, and fuel during the 15-month conflict. Israel denies that it has hindered aid. But the US at one point threatened to cut military aid to Israel over the low levels of aid reaching Gaza.

In Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, a BBC reporter witnessed heartbreaking scenes of exhausted children jostling each other in lines to receive food. The young people who come daily to collect rice or bread to take home to their families have frayed tempers. Farah Khaled Bassal, a 10-year-old girl from Al Zaytoun, said she came so her nine siblings would have something to eat. The smiling, thin child was waiting at a center run by World Central Kitchen, whose seven aid workers were killed in an Israeli airstrike last April. Farah's family is separated from her father in northern Gaza. She told our reporter that she constantly dreams of a ceasefire.

"I hope to return to our home, my father to be back with us, and to have flour for us to use." The lines waiting to collect rice were filled with children of all ages. Lamis Mohammed Mizari, 16, is originally from Gaza City. She now lives in a tent with eight family members. Lamis looked back almost in disbelief at her pre-war attitude towards food.

"I used to be picky, and when my mother made cauliflower, I would always complain, saying, 'We eat cauliflower every day, I want different food, meat or chicken,' but now I eat anything, good and bad. Animals don't eat what we eat." She explained how hunger has created tension within families. "When I tell my mother that I'm not going to stand in line today, she tells me, 'Then what will we eat? Should we just keep looking at the sky?' I have to come here. I keep thinking that if I don't come, we won't find anything to eat. In the past, every day I thought about where to go to play, what to play, what to learn, and when to sleep. I had my own room, a kitchen. There was a living room, where I used to receive guests."

After collecting her rice, Lamis walked home, passing a crowd of adults and children arriving at the kitchen. She mumbled to herself as she disappeared into the morning crowd. In Amman, they are preparing more aid shipments for Gaza. The Jordan Hashemite Charity Organization says it could load 150 trucks a day for Gaza if approved. There is no shortage of willingness. Aid agencies, the UN, and other groups are ready. They are all waiting for the full opening of Gaza to aid, and for peace.