Humanitarian aid poisons children in Gaza, but not for the reasons you might think

More than 60 cases of poisoning, predominantly among children, have been reported at a school sheltering displaced individuals in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza, after they consumed expired canned food.

The Gaza Strip's Government Media Office confirmed the incident yesterday (Monday), attributing the mass poisoning to the severe food shortages plaguing the enclave. In a statement, the office highlighted the dire conditions, stating, "People are consuming expired canned foods, causing large numbers of poisonings ... particularly affecting children."

There is a real problem, but it's not that there isn't aid. It's that the aid either doesn't reach its intended audience, or when it does reach them, it is already rancid having sat in trucks in the brutal summer temperatures of the Middle East.

As reported by the Wall Street Journal, over 1,000 truckloads of aid remained stranded at the Kerem Shalom border crossing, despite a newly implemented pause in fighting. Although Israel had initiated a daily 11-hour ceasefire along a crucial road to facilitate aid delivery, the United Nations, Gaza's primary aid distributor, reported that widespread looting of aid trucks has created dangerous conditions for their employees, leading to a complete halt of UN aid pickups at the Kerem Shalom crossing by midafternoon.

This bottleneck, coupled with security concerns and logistical hurdles, has created a perilous situation where even when food reaches those in need, it may no longer be safe to consume.