In a new development that reflects the depth of the tragedy facing civilians in the Gaza Strip, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) issued a statement last night expressing deep concern over the worsening humanitarian situation in the besieged enclave, stating that under the intensified blockade imposed by the occupying authorities since 2 March, despair has reached its toll.
The statement, published on X, highlighted the escalating catastrophe confronting the population of Gaza, stressing that the ongoing Israeli siege, systematic starvation, forced displacement policies, and relentless bombardment are driving residents towards the brink.
It noted that families in Gaza are now desperately seeking food, water, and medicine, while thousands are being forced to flee their homes, which are no longer safe, without access to any alternative shelter that meets the bare minimum for survival.
The blockade, which has been in place for more than two months, has resulted in a complete paralysis of humanitarian aid entry. Relief convoys remain stranded at closed crossings, while the occupation continues to use starvation as a weapon of repression and slow extermination. The result on the ground is stark: a deepening famine and an increasing death toll among civilians, including children and infants, due to hunger and malnutrition, all amid the near-total collapse of the health system and depletion of medical supplies.
The policies adopted by the occupation do not merely constitute war crimes, they amount to acts of genocide. Under international law, specifically the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, any conduct aimed at creating living conditions intended to bring about the partial or total destruction of a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group, whether through killing, starvation, forced displacement, or physical or psychological harm, constitutes genocide. This is precisely what is unfolding in Gaza today.
Since 7 October 2023, more than 53,000 civilians have been killed in Gaza, the vast majority of them women and children. The number of injured has surpassed 120,000, while thousands of bodies remain buried under the rubble, unreachable by rescue teams due to ongoing bombardment and lack of resources.
The world’s silence in the face of what is happening in Gaza, the international inaction, and the reduction of the crisis to mere statistics in news bulletins, amounts to complicity in genocide. With each passing day, the demand to open the crossings, allow humanitarian aid in, and hold those responsible for these crimes accountable is no longer just a moral obligation, but an urgent legal and humanitarian necessity.
