The UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) declared on Tuesday that this marks the longest period without aid or commercial supplies reaching the Gaza Strip since the conflict commenced in October 2023.
OCHA’s spokesperson, Jens Laerke, spoke at a press briefing in Geneva, stating, “Right now, it is probably the worst humanitarian situation ever seen throughout the war in Gaza.”
More than 2.1 million Gazans are experiencing severe shortages of food, medicine, fuel, and clean water. However, significant humanitarian supplies, including almost 3,000 trucks of critical aid prepared by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), are amassed just across the border, but the Israeli authorities are preventing their entry.
UNRWA’s Commissioner-General, Philippe Lazzarini, asserted in a statement, “Hunger is spreading and deepening – it’s deliberate and man-made. Gaza has become a land of desperation… humanitarian aid is being used as a bargaining chip and a weapon of war.”
The agency warns that supplies within Gaza are nearly exhausted, with food stocks dangerously low and only 250 food parcels remaining. Flour is depleted, resulting in bakeries shutting down, hospitals collapsing due to lack of fuel and medicine, and essential items skyrocketing in price.
“Two million people – a majority of women and children – are undergoing collective punishment,” Mr. Lazzarini stated. “The siege must be lifted, supplies must flow in, the hostages must be released, the ceasefire must resume.”
Despite these dire circumstances, UNRWA persists in their operations on the ground, providing water, collecting solid waste, and delivering essential health services. Eight healthcare centers and 39 medical childcare are still handling about 15,000 consultations daily. Additionally, a blood donation campaign is in progress to support local hospitals desperately in need of transfusions.
Source: https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2025/04/1162471
