Through the windshield ahead and the rearview mirror, Mustafa Qadri could see the rest of the long convoy heading toward the Jordan Valley. We descend through sand-colored rocky land toward the Dead Sea, into Israel and eventually Gaza.

First, the convoy must pass through Israeli customs at the King Hussein/Allenby Bridge crossing. It then proceeds to the Erez crossing into Gaza, where WFP aid will be transferred to local drivers.

Mustafa was heading to where Israeli settlers had blocked roads, while in war zones criminal gangs hijacked aid trucks. But on this sunny winter morning, the driver was happy.

“We are delivering aid such as food and medicine to our brothers in Gaza,” he said.

The word “brother” came up repeatedly in his response. He was referring not just to a common humanity or Arab brotherhood, but to the fact that many Jordanians have Palestinian ancestry.

“It’s a good thing to provide this assistance. It makes me happy,” Mustafa said.

Drivers waved to onlookers and honked their horns. Gaza is a popular undertaking in Jordan. The noise rivaled the sirens of the police escort, which included two trucks mounted with machine guns. Of course, these convoys will not enter Israel, let alone Gaza.

This latest mission involves 120 trucks and is the largest since the war began in October 2023. Jordan’s aid operation shows Gazans that at least their neighbors have not forgotten them. Jordanian leader King Abdullah II has personally pushed for the kingdom to send food, medicine and fuel to Gaza.

The international community has promised to significantly increase aid once a ceasefire is reached. “A ceasefire must remove major security and political obstacles to the delivery of aid in Gaza,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said. “The humanitarian situation is at catastrophic levels.” Gaza has displaced 90 percent of its 2.2 million people. As many as 2 million people rely on aid.

During the previous 15 months of conflict, the United Nations and aid agencies accused Israel of repeatedly blocking or delaying the distribution of vital food, medicine and fuel. Israel denies blocking aid. But the United States once threatened to cut military aid to Israel because of the low amount of aid reaching Gaza.

In Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, a BBC reporter witnessed the harrowing scene of exhausted children wrestling with each other as they queued for food. The young people who come every day to collect rice or bread to take home to their families are exhausted.

Farah Khaled Basal, a ten-year-old girl from Al Zaytoun, said she came here to feed her nine siblings. She was a slight, smiling child waiting at a center run by World Food Kitchen, where seven aid workers were killed in an Israeli airstrike last April. Farah’s family was separated from his father, who lives in the northern Gaza Strip. She told our reporter that she had always dreamed of a ceasefire.

“I want to go back to our home and have my father back with us and have flour for us.”

Children of all ages lined up to have rice distributed.

Lamees Mohammad Al Mizar’i is 16 years old from Gaza City. She now lives in a tent with eight family members. Ramis looks back with almost disbelief on her pre-war attitude toward food.

“I’m very picky and when my mum used to make cauliflower I used to complain about it, saying ‘we eat cauliflower every day, I want a different meat or chicken meal’ but now I eat everything, both good and great The bad thing is, animals don’t eat the food we eat.”

She explains how hunger creates tension in families.

“When I told my mom I wasn’t going to stand in line today, she told me, ‘So what are we going to eat? So should we keep looking up at the sky?’ I kept thinking, if I don’t come, we won’t find anything to eat. Before. , I think about where I want to go every day, what to play, what to study, and when to go. I have my own room, kitchen, and living room, which I use to receive guests.”

After collecting a pot of rice, Ramis walked home, passing a long line of adults and children in the kitchen. She muttered to herself as she disappeared into the morning crowd.

Back in Amman, they are preparing to send more aid to Gaza. Jordanian Hashemite Charities said it could load 150 trucks per day for Gaza if approved. There is no lack of will. Aid agencies, the United Nations and other groups are ready. They – all of them – are waiting for the full opening of Gaza to aid and peace.

Additional reporting by Alice Doyard, Suha Kawar and Moose Campbell