United Nations relief chief Tom Fletcher on Friday again called on the international community to protect civilians in Gaza and facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid, in accordance with international law, as Israeli attacks on civilians, aid workers, UN personnel, hospitals and ambulances continue with impunity. The complete blockade of humanitarian aid and commercial goods into Gaza, imposed by Israel four weeks ago, remains in place.
The total blockade of humanitarian assistance is a flagrant war crime and may be part of an alleged genocide against the population of Gaza, as the actions of the Israeli government are apparently aimed at deliberately inflicting living conditions calculated to bring about the physical destruction of a group or part of a group.
A significant number of independent legal experts, international committees, and human rights organizations - including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the International Federation for Human Rights - have determined that Israeli actions in Gaza against Palestinians as a group amount to genocide.
Prior to the Israeli government's total siege, humanitarian aid to Gaza had been obstructed by Israeli officials for more than a year, in gross violation of international humanitarian law and in apparent use as a method of warfare.
Tom Fletcher, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator (ERC) who also heads the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), issued a statement on Friday following a UN Security Council meeting on Gaza earlier in the day.
“We reported that for 10 terrible days, Israeli airstrikes in densely populated areas have killed hundreds of children and other civilians. Patients killed in their hospital beds. Ambulances shot at. First responders killed,” Fletcher said.
Since the collapse of the ceasefire on March 18, Israeli attacks have killed more than 855 people, including hundreds of children, and injured more than 1,800 others.
“More than 142,000 people have been ordered to move, once again, with no safe place to go and no means to survive. For many there is no electricity, no water, no food, no safety,” the relief chief said.
Palestinian civilians have endured 17 months of relentless attacks from Israeli forces, and now, following four weeks of a total aid blockade, they are left with little or no food, clean water or medical care.
More than 50,000 Palestinians have reportedly been killed and more than 113,000 injured in Gaza since October 7, 2023, most of them civilians. However, the real numbers are estimated to be much higher. Among the dead are at least 399 aid workers, 289 UN staff, 1060 health workers and 206 journalists.
“Over 280 UN staff have been killed, including by Israeli tank fire on a clearly designated UN building last week,” Fletcher said.
“All entry points into Gaza are closed for cargo since early March. At the border, food is rotting, medicine expiring, and vital medical equipment stuck. Inside Gaza, Israeli authorities deny humanitarian access to people in need.”
International humanitarian law prohibits indiscriminate attacks, the obstruction of life-saving aid, and the destruction of infrastructure essential to the survival of civilians. At the same time, the provisional measures of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the case on the application of the Genocide Convention remain in place.
“And yet, this continues without accountability. So, if the basic principles of humanitarian law still count, the international community must act while it can to uphold them,” the UN relief chief said.
“Protect civilians. Facilitate aid. Release hostages. Renew a ceasefire,“ he urged.
OCHA reported on Friday that intensified hostilities continued across the Gaza Strip, with more civilians killed and injured and critical infrastructure damaged. Many people are reportedly trapped under rubble or in the streets, with ambulances and civilian teams unable to reach them.
In southern Gaza, the UN humanitarian office reported that efforts are ongoing to extract casualties and recover ambulances in the Tal as Sultan area of Rafah, where a ground operation began on Sunday and military activity continues.
On Friday, Israeli forces dropped leaflets announcing a three-hour window for people trapped by the fighting in Tal as Sultan to leave the area on foot, following an evacuation order for the area originally issued last Sunday.
“We reiterate once again that civilians must be protected under international law. Civilians fleeing fighting must be allowed to do so safely, and they must be able to voluntarily return when the situation allows,“ UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said Friday.
According to OCHA, the space for families to survive in Gaza is narrowing. Displacement orders issued by the Israeli military last week - combined with "no-go" zones - cover more than half of Gaza's territory, or about 52 percent.
Of particular concern, according to the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR), is northern Gaza, more than half of which appears to be under "evacuation orders".
“We are deeply concerned about the shrinking space for civilians in Gaza who are being forcibly displaced by the Israeli army from large swaths of territory,” said Thameen Al-Kheetan, OHCHR spokesperson, on Friday.
He said these evacuations do not meet the requirements of international humanitarian law.
"Israel is not taking any measures to provide accommodation for the evacuated population, nor ensure that these evacuations are conducted in satisfactory conditions of hygiene, health, safety and nutrition," Al-Kheetan said.
“Civilians who have endured multiple displacement as a result of such orders are again faced with the stark choice of being displaced once more or staying and risking their lives and those of their loved ones.”
According to the UN, at least 1.9 million Palestinians - or about 90 percent of the population - have been uprooted throughout the territory during the war. Many have been repeatedly displaced, some a dozen times or more.
Meanwhile, thousands of pallets - mostly filled with food - are waiting to enter Gaza. Humanitarian agencies warn that very soon, the subsidized bakeries will run out of flour.
“We and our partners are attempting to coordinate access to Kerem Shalom to conduct an inventory of the remaining cargo that is waiting on the platform there and that we are not able to access,” said Dujarric.
“However, so far Israeli authorities have denied our attempts to reach the crossings and collect those supplies intended for distribution prior to March 2. “
On March 17, Israel unilaterally ended the ceasefire it had agreed to with the Palestinian armed group Hamas on January 15 and launched airstrikes on Gaza. Since Sunday, March 2, Israel has imposed a total blockade on the territory.
The first phase of the Gaza ceasefire, which lasted until March 1, 2025, allowed humanitarian organizations to rapidly scale up their response. The cessation of Israeli attacks allowed the daily entry of large quantities of humanitarian supplies and a steady flow of fuel.
It also significantly improved the overall security environment and humanitarian access in Gaza. 42,000 trucks of goods and humanitarian aid entered Gaza in the first phase. More than 4,000 trucks of assistance crossed into Gaza each week, reaching more than two million people.
The UN is calling on all parties to the conflict to reach a permanent ceasefire as soon as possible, and on Israel to immediately end its blockade of humanitarian aid, as hundreds of thousands of people, including many children, continue to lack the basic essentials, especially food, water and health care.
In another development, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) on Saturday called for urgent access and information after seven days of silence on the fate of nine medics in Gaza.
“The IFRC is gravely concerned for the ambulance crews of the Palestine Red Crescent who came under heavy gunfire while responding in the early hours of March 23 in the Al-Hashashin area of Rafah. Since then, there has been no communication with the teams,” an IFRC statement said.
International humanitarian law is clear that humanitarian and medical personnel must be protected and respected. According to media reports, the ambulance crews were attacked by Israeli forces.
Israel's war in Gaza has been marked by a pattern of serious war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Israeli military and government officials. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is already wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes and crimes against humanity in connection with the situation in Gaza, after the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu in November.
Some of the worst crimes committed by Israeli officials in Gaza include collective punishment of civilians, use of starvation as a method of warfare, denial of humanitarian aid, targeted killings of civilians, indiscriminate killing of civilians, disproportionate attacks, forcible transfer, torture, enforced disappearances and other atrocity crimes.