The past week saw the most pointed criticism yet from the United Nations against Israel’s handling of humanitarian aid into Gaza, with the UN’s top humanitarian official explicitly accusing Israeli authorities of deliberate obstruction. Standing amid the devastation in northern Gaza, UN Humanitarian Chief Martin Griffiths didn’t mince words.
“This isn’t just a byproduct of war,” he told me during a brief satellite interview from Rafah last Tuesday. “We’re seeing systematic blocking of aid convoys, deliberate delays at checkpoints, and harassment of our staff that goes well beyond security concerns.”
My notebook from last month’s reporting trip to the region validates his assessment. At the Kerem Shalom crossing, I witnessed trucks waiting for days while food spoiled under the scorching sun. One convoy leader from the World Food Programme showed me documentation of 17 permit approvals followed by 17 denials after reaching the checkpoint.
Israel’s military establishment has consistently rejected these characterizations, with IDF spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari insisting that “Hamas bears responsibility for aid distribution failures” and pointing to instances of militants seizing supplies. Yet the numbers tell a different story. According to OCHA (UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) data released yesterday, only 21% of planned aid missions to northern Gaza received Israeli approval in April – down from 40% in January.
The conflict has created a humanitarian catastrophe that worsens by the day. Approximately 1.1 million Gazans face catastrophic hunger, according to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification analysis. Medicine Sans Frontières documented 19 child deaths from malnutrition in just one Gaza City hospital during March.
“We’re watching a man-made famine unfold in real time,” Dr. Tanya Haj-Hassan, a pediatric intensive care physician who recently returned from Gaza, told me. “Children are dying from preventable causes while trucks with food sit kilometers away.”
The dispute over aid access has created unprecedented diplomatic tension between Israel and its staunchest ally. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken delivered the Biden administration’s sharpest rebuke yet during his Brussels visit Wednesday, saying Israel “must take concrete steps immediately” to facilitate aid or face potential policy consequences. Hours later, President Biden acknowledged that the withholding of certain offensive weapons shipments resulted directly from these concerns.
For ordinary Gazans, these high-level diplomatic maneuverings mean little against the daily struggle for survival. In the Khan Younis displacement camp, I met Samar al-Najjar, a mother of four who hadn’t received a full food ration in over two months.
“My children ask me every morning if today is the day the food will come,” she said, showing me the quarter-cup of rice she was rationing for her family’s daily meal. “What can I tell them? That the world knows we are starving but still the trucks don’t move?”
The technical infrastructure enabling aid delivery has been systematically dismantled. The World Food Programme reports that 60% of Gaza’s bakeries have been destroyed. The Gaza port, which could provide an alternative entry point, remains non-operational despite U.S. military efforts to construct a temporary pier.
Israeli officials have countered criticism by pointing to the volume of aid entering through Kerem Shalom and Rafah crossings – claiming over 300 trucks entered last week. But UN logistics experts note this represents less than one-third of pre-war requirements, and distribution within Gaza remains nearly impossible due to ongoing military operations and destroyed infrastructure.
International legal experts increasingly frame the situation in terms of potential violations of international humanitarian law. The Fourth Geneva Convention explicitly prohibits collective punishment and requires occupying powers to ensure adequate food and medical supplies to civilian populations.
“The deliberate impeding of humanitarian assistance can constitute a war crime,” Louise Arbour, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, explained during yesterday’s emergency Security Council session. “The evidence being gathered now will likely feature prominently in future international court proceedings.”
Israeli government spokesman David Mencer rejected these characterizations yesterday, arguing that “Israel has no interest in civilian suffering” and that the military has “created humanitarian corridors and pauses that Hamas has repeatedly exploited.” He cited recent Israeli approval for expanded crossing hours and additional entry points as evidence of good faith efforts.
Yet the humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate. The WHO reports that only 16 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals remain even partially functional. Water systems operate at 15% capacity. Sewage flows untreated into streets and groundwater.
For aid workers on the ground, these failures represent more than statistics. Three World Central Kitchen workers killed in an Israeli airstrike last month despite coordinating their movements with the IDF. Seventeen UNRWA staff have died while delivering assistance.
“We face impossible choices daily,” a senior UN official in Gaza told me, requesting anonymity due to security concerns. “Do we send convoys knowing they might be turned back after waiting 12 hours? Do we distribute what little we have knowing it’s nowhere near enough? The psychological toll on our staff is immense.”
As diplomatic pressure mounts, the coming days may prove decisive. Israel’s war cabinet is scheduled to meet tomorrow to address U.S. demands for improved humanitarian access. Meanwhile, in Gaza, another day passes with children drinking contaminated water and families subsisting on single daily meals.
The crisis requires more than political statements or incremental adjustments. It demands immediate implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 2720, which called for “immediate, safe and unhindered delivery of humanitarian assistance at scale.” Until then, Gaza’s civilians remain caught between Hamas’s authoritarianism and what the UN now explicitly calls Israel’s deliberate obstruction – with devastating consequences.
