Gaza urgently requires additional aid, or its desperate inhabitants will face widespread starvation and illness, the presidents of three major United Nations organizations warned Monday, as authorities in the enclave revealed that the death toll in the Israel-Hamas conflict had topped 24,000.
While the UN agency chiefs did not directly blame Israel, they stated that aid delivery is hampered by the opening of too few border crossings, a slow vetting process for trucks and goods entering Gaza, and ongoing fighting throughout the territory, all of which Israel plays a role in.
Unprecedented destruction
Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, sparked by the militant group’s Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel, has resulted in unprecedented destruction in the tiny coastal enclave, as well as a humanitarian disaster that has displaced the majority of Gaza’s 2.3 million people and driven more than a quarter to starvation, according to the United Nations.
Civilians have grown desperate. Al Jazeera posted the video to X on Monday, showing hundreds of civilians running toward what looked to be a relief vehicle in what the news source identified as Gaza City. As reported by the Associated Press, the footage could not be independently verified, and it was unclear when it was shot.
A day after the White House said it was time for Israel to reduce its military offensive, the World Food Program, UNICEF, and the World Health Organization said new entry routes to Gaza needed to be opened, more trucks needed to be allowed in each Day, and aid workers and those seeking aid needed to be able to move freely. “People in Gaza risk dying of hunger just miles from trucks filled with food,” said WFP Executive Director Cindy McCain. “Every hour lost puts countless lives at risk.”
An increase in the death tolls
The Health Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza announced Monday that the bodies of 132 individuals killed in Israeli attacks were brought to Gaza hospitals over the past Day, bringing the total death toll to 24,100 since the war began.
The ministry, which does not distinguish between fighters and noncombatants in its calculation, claims that two-thirds of those slain in the war were women and children. Israel claims to have killed approximately 8,000 jihadists but does not provide evidence.
On Monday, the military said its forces and planes targeted militants in the second-largest city, Khan Younis, which is currently the focus of the ground onslaught, as well as in northern Gaza, where the Israeli military claims to be expanding its grip.
Hamas is being accused of the high death tolls by Israel, claiming that its fighters use residential buildings in highly populated areas for launch operations.
According to a report by the Associated Press, in Israel, a woman was killed, and 12 other people were wounded in a car-ramming and stabbing attack in a suburb of Tel Aviv that police said was carried out by at least two Palestinians. They were later arrested. The police say the suspects stole three different cars and attempted to run down pedestrians.
Palestinians have carried out a number of attacks against Israelis since the start of the war, mainly in Jerusalem or the occupied West Bank. Around 350 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry, mostly in confrontations during Israeli arrest raids or violent protests.
Continuing Conflict in its 101st Day
The Conflict, now in its 101st Day, has triggered an unparalleled humanitarian crisis in Gaza, which was already hurting from a long-standing siege imposed by Israel and Egypt after Hamas gained power in 2007.
The issue has been particularly severe in northern Gaza, with the United Nations reporting on Sunday that less than a quarter of humanitarian convoys reached their targets in the north in January due to Israeli authorities denying most access. Israeli officials made no quick comment.
Plea for Access to the Israeli Port of Ashdod
The United Nations agencies said they seek access to the Israeli port of Ashdod, which is about 40 kilometers (24 miles) north of Gaza. They say this would allow larger amounts of aid to be transported in and then sent straight to northern Gaza, most of which Israel destroyed in the first few weeks of the Conflict. Israel has criticized the United Nations and other organizations for humanitarian delivery issues.
Moshe Tetro, an officer with COGAT, an Israeli military entity in charge of civilian Palestinian affairs, stated last week that aid delivery would be more efficient if the United Nations provided more people to receive and pack supplies. He stated that more trucks were needed to transport the supplies to Israel for security checks and that operating hours at the Rafah gate between Gaza and Egypt needed to be extended.
Following Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7, which murdered 1,200 people, the majority of whom were civilians, and kidnapped approximately 250, Israel cut off aid to the region. It backed down after its main ally, the United States, pressured it to remove its limits. The United States and the United Nations have continued to pressure Israel to relax the flow of aid.