Gaza Strip – Despite reports of aid trucks entering Gaza after an 11-week blockade, the United Nations confirms that no humanitarian assistance has yet been distributed to the desperate population. This comes amidst growing international pressure on Israel over its military operations in the territory, where global experts warn of an impending famine.
Israeli officials stated that 93 trucks carrying essential supplies, including flour, baby food, medical equipment, and pharmaceutical drugs, entered Gaza on Tuesday. However, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric revealed that a UN team tasked with collecting the aid waited for hours but was unable to access the supplies at the Kerem Shalom crossing. The complex process requires the UN to offload and then reload supplies once Israeli authorities secure access for UN teams within the Gaza Strip.
Dujarric described the arrival of aid as "a drop in the ocean of what's needed," emphasizing that UN bodies estimate 600 trucks a day are required to address Gaza's severe humanitarian crisis.
Meanwhile, the Hamas-run Civil Defence service reported on Wednesday that 15 people, including a child, were killed in overnight air strikes.
Famine Warning and Child Malnutrition Crisis
The situation for children in Gaza remains particularly dire. The UN's humanitarian chief, Tom Fletcher, initially told the BBC that "14,000 babies could die in the next 48 hours" without immediate aid. While later clarified by the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), the urgency remains, as a report from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) projects 14,100 severe cases of acute malnutrition among children aged six to 59 months between April 2025 and March 2026. UNOCHA spokesman Jens Laerke stressed that babies in urgent need of nutritional supplements face "mortal danger" if aid doesn't reach them. The Hamas-run health ministry reported 57 child deaths from malnutrition over the past 11 weeks.
Mounting International Pressure
International pressure on Israel continues to intensify. The UK announced the suspension of trade talks, calling Israel's military escalation "morally unjustifiable," with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer describing the situation as "intolerable." The EU's foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, stated the bloc would be reviewing its trade agreement with Israel.
Leaders from the UK, France, and Canada jointly called on Israel to "stop its military operations" and "immediately allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza." As part of its renewed stance, the UK also imposed sanctions on several prominent Israeli settlers and settler-linked groups.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio welcomed Israel's decision to allow some aid, acknowledging it was not yet in sufficient amounts.
The current conflict stems from Hamas's cross-border attack on October 7, 2023, which killed approximately 1,200 people and resulted in 251 hostages. Since then, at least 53,475 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the territory's health ministry, with 3,340 deaths occurring since the resumption of the Israeli offensive.
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