In a scene that reflects the ongoing humanitarian tragedy in the Gaza Strip, reports of civilians being killed or injured while waiting for humanitarian aid continue to raise deep concern, according to the United Nations.
At a press conference held at UN Headquarters in New York, the spokesperson for the Secretary-General stated that between 27 July and 8 August 2025, repeated incidents occurred in which Palestinians waiting for aid were among the casualties. He stressed that the continued denial of safe, rapid, and unrestricted humanitarian relief threatens to exacerbate an already dire humanitarian catastrophe.
The spokesperson further noted that the people of Gaza have been deprived of the gas needed for cooking food for five months, while the number of children admitted to hospitals due to malnutrition continues to rise daily. This, he warned, is a dangerous indication of starvation being used systematically as a tool to subjugate civilians.
He also reiterated his rejection of the occupation’s practices based on expanding control by force and imposing forced displacement, stressing that such actions only increase the scale of violations committed against civilians.
Since 2 March this year, the occupation has kept all crossings into Gaza closed, plunging the Strip into a state of widespread famine despite relief convoys being piled up at its borders. Only limited quantities are allowed in, insufficient even to meet the bare minimum of basic needs, in a reality that gravely threatens the right to life and human dignity.
Since 7 October 2023, the Gaza Strip has been subjected to systematic acts of genocide, including killing, starvation, destruction, and forced displacement. These have so far resulted in the killing of 61,827 Palestinians and the injury of 155,275 others, the majority of whom are women and children, in addition to over 9,000 missing persons and hundreds of thousands displaced. Starvation alone has claimed the lives of 240 people, including 107 children, in a tragedy that lays bare the scale of humanitarian collapse.
Denying civilians access to food and medicine, and preventing the delivery of humanitarian aid, constitutes a grave breach of international humanitarian law, which explicitly prohibits the use of starvation as a method of warfare. Moreover, targeting civilians as they seek to secure their most basic needs amounts to a war crime and a crime against humanity.
