GAZA STRIP: PALESTINE – Below are updates on the current situation in Gaza today, outlining what’s happening in Gaza right now, the violations of human rights in Gaza Strip and the overall food crisis in Palestine.
The Food Crisis in Palestine
Israel has not allowed any humanitarian aid into Gaza for nearly 80 days, the Gaza Media Office said Monday, warning that a crippling blockade and systematic starvation threaten the lives of 2.4 million Palestinians.
“No genuine aid has entered the Gaza Strip for more than 80 days under a complete siege and worsening famine,” the office said in a statement.
It added that Israeli forces have fully closed all border crossings and “have not permitted a single grain of wheat to enter for nearly three months.”
The statement described the situation as “a deliberate policy of starvation targeting 2.4 million unarmed civilians.”
It said Israel has claimed to allow only nine trucks loaded with nutritional supplements for children to enter Gaza – representing just 0.02% of the approximately 44,000 aid trucks that should have reached the Gaza Strip since the blockade intensified on March 2.
Gaza requires around 500 aid trucks and 50 fuel trucks daily to meet the minimum humanitarian needs of its population, the statement said.
Violations of Human Rights in Gaza Strip
The office held Israel and the international community “fully responsible for this ongoing humanitarian crime,” calling for immediate international intervention to open all border crossings unconditionally and allow the entry of essential aid “before it’s too late.”
Israel has continued to impose a systematic starvation policy on approximately 2.4 million Palestinians in Gaza by sealing off all crossings to aid shipments which have been stranded at the border since March 2. The blockade has pushed the enclave into famine.
On Sunday evening, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed that Israel “will permit the entry of a basic quantity of food for the population to prevent the emergence of a hunger crisis in the Gaza Strip.”
Israel’s public broadcaster KAN quoted an unnamed Israeli official saying that the food entry would be a temporary measure lasting about a week, during which distribution centers would be completed, mainly in southern Gaza.
The centers will be managed by the Israeli military and operated by American companies, the report said.
Earlier Monday, Israeli Army Radio reported that Tel Aviv plans to allow only nine trucks carrying humanitarian aid into Gaza, the first such delivery since March 2.
What’s Happening in Gaza Right Now
Over 60 Palestinians, including women and children, have been killed in continued Israeli deadly attacks across the Gaza Strip since early Tuesday, targeting homes, tents, and schools sheltering displaced people, according to the official Palestinian news agency Wafa.
Most of the deadly attacks were concentrated in Gaza’s central area, including 12 killed in an airstrike on a home for the “Abu Samra” family in the Deir al-Balah city, Wafa said.
Another airstrike in the western Nuseirat refugee camp left 15 people killed, it also reported.
Meanwhile, the local Al-Aqsa radio reported that nine people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a home in the Jabalia refugee camp, northern Gaza, while still missing people are under the rubble.
Several more victims were killed in Israeli strikes and artillery shelling on areas in Gaza City and in Khan Younis, the southern Gaza Strip, the Palestinian broadcaster added.
On Sunday, the Israeli army announced the beginning of a broad ground offensive in the war-torn Gaza Strip.
The Israeli army has pursued a brutal offensive against Gaza since October 2023, killing nearly 53,500 Palestinians, most of them women and children.