As part of an ongoing collective punishment campaign against the population of the Gaza Strip, the United Nations confirmed that Israeli occupation authorities have officially notified it of a decision to halve the number of humanitarian aid trucks permitted to enter Gaza. This number drops from approximately 600 trucks per day, as outlined in the latest ceasefire understandings, to just half that.
UN Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq stated that Israeli Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) informed the UN in an official letter of the supply reduction, citing the return of remains as the reason for the cutback.
Haq affirmed that the UN “is striving to deliver as much aid as possible to civilians in Gaza,” and called on the Israeli occupation to fully adhere to its obligations and the ceasefire terms, including the unimpeded flow of humanitarian assistance and return of bodies.
This decision comes amid the worst humanitarian conditions in decades. Over two million Palestinians in Gaza are living under an 18-year blockade, widespread destruction of infrastructure, the collapse of the healthcare system, and a severe shortage of food, medicine, and fuel.
The reduction in aid constitutes a grave violation of international humanitarian law, particularly the Fourth Geneva Convention, which obligates occupying powers to ensure the well-being of civilian populations and prohibits the use of food and medicine as tools of war.
International law classifies the deliberate deprivation of essential supplies as an act of genocide if it aims to “destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group,” by imposing life-threatening conditions, as outlined in Article II of the 1948 Genocide Convention.
Despite the clarity of these violations, the international community remains unable, or unwilling, to hold the Israeli occupation accountable. The absence of political will among major powers to activate accountability mechanisms only emboldens the Israeli occupation to escalate its tactics, which now extend beyond direct killings to slow death through starvation and the systematic denial of basic human dignity.
