While the world’s attention is diverted to Iran following the Israeli government’s launch of another war, Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip continue unabated, resulting in more deaths, maiming, displacement, and destruction of civilian infrastructure. At the same time, Israel continues to hinder United Nations–coordinated aid based on universal humanitarian principles from reaching those in need by the scale necessary.
Death and suffering are ever-present in Gaza, and the territory's people now have little choice but to risk their lives to collect aid from militarized distribution centers. Since late May, more than 400 Palestinians have reportedly been killed by Israeli forces at food distribution points while trying to access assistance in Gaza.
Most of these deaths occurred near sites administered by the Gaza “Humanitarian” Foundation (GHF), which is backed by Israel and the United States but opposed by the United Nations, humanitarian and human rights organizations, and most countries worldwide.
Despite having "humanitarian" in its name, the GHF is regarded as the very opposite of a humanitarian organization. Its establishment for the purpose of weaponizing aid and limiting food aid to a small group of Gazans — those who can reach it and survive crossing combat zones — may itself amount to a war crime, a crime against humanity, or an act of genocide.
Meanwhile, the killing and injuring of starving people continues with impunity. On Tuesday, the Israeli military reportedly shelled a crowd waiting for UN food trucks in southern Gaza, killing more than 50 people and injuring over 200. Targeting civilians and launching indiscriminate attacks are both war crimes under international law.
Israeli forces are reportedly continuing to target and kill people attempting to access food supplies at militarized distribution centers and United Nations distribution sites. In the first days of Israel’s war against Iran alone, international monitors recorded over 20 incidents in which Israeli forces targeted civilians around aid distribution sites.
“I met a little boy who was wounded by a tank shell at one of these sites on the final day of me leaving Gaza - I learnt that this little boy had since died of those injuries,” said James Elder, spokesperson for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), to journalists in Geneva on Friday.
“That speaks to both what is happening at these sites and what is not happening when it comes to medical evacuations.”
A recent online video featuring a dying 13-year-old named Abed al-Rahman, whom Elder met while on a mission in Gaza, has been viewed thousands of times since its publication on June 6. In the clip, Abed explains that he has been asking for pain relief for his shrapnel wounds, but none is available.
Speaking from Amman, Elder explained that partly destroyed hospitals, including the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, continue to treat wounded children despite shortages of medicine and medical supplies.
“Humanitarian aid is so much more than food in a box; it's oxygen kits, it's ventilators, it's hygiene packs; it's medicines, it's incubators. It's all those things the United Nations was doing just a couple of months ago.”
Elder added that parents whose children need oxygen have been leaving the hospital “because of the fear that Nasser may come under attack again. As the doctors told me, if you have a child who needs oxygen and they leave without the oxygen, they will, over a matter of time, die in a tent.”
The dire shortage of basic life-sustaining aid, which is due to Israeli restrictions, continues to cause desperation and starvation across Gaza.
“I spoke to a grandmother in tears saying, how am I possibly to get to these sites?” Elder explained.
“I've met young men who've been seven times and never returned with anything. So, there's a complete lack of equity. There's a complete lack of sites. You cannot distribute aid in a militarized zone, in a combat zone, by one party to the conflict.”
The weakest Gazans are those most susceptible to the lack of fresh drinking water, food, and fuel: the young, pregnant women, the elderly, and amputees.
Elder said that it would be impossible for them to walk the long distances required to fetch scarce supplies from the controversial non-UN aid hubs.
“You have half a million people facing starvation with a lethal choice of being forced into very small pockets where most people can't access into what are officially known as combat sites,” the UNICEF spokesperson said.
“We know children [who have been] killed at these sites.”
Meanwhile, the number of malnourished children in Gaza is rising at an alarming rate, with more than 5,100 children between six months and five years of age being admitted for treatment of acute malnutrition last month alone.
On Thursday, UNICEF said this represents a nearly 50 percent increase compared to April and a 150 percent increase compared to February, when a ceasefire was in effect and significant quantities of aid were entering the territory.
“In just 150 days, from the start of the year until the end of May, 16,736 children – an average of 112 children a day – have been admitted for treatment for malnutrition in the Gaza Strip,” said Edouard Beigbeder, UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa.
“Every one of these cases is preventable. The food, water, and nutrition treatments they desperately need are being blocked from reaching them. Man-made decisions that are costing lives. Israel must urgently allow the large-scale delivery of life-saving aid through all border crossings.”
On Friday, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) warned that malnutrition and its impact on weakened immune systems continues to take its toll.
“The latest reports say 610 patients have been admitted due to severe malnutrition complications. But what does that mean? That means these are the lucky ones who made it so far to get to a place,” said WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier.
“This does not count the many who were too weak to reach any point, who are too weak, who cannot be transported because the roads are blocked, because there are no ambulances, or because the hospitals, some of the health emergency centers have been shelled and bombed and are being constantly shelled and bombed.”
According to UNICEF, it has been distributing its limited nutrition supplies to Gaza. However, the amount of Ready-to-Use-Therapeutic-Food (RUTF), an essential lifesaver for children with acute malnutrition, is critically low.
Meanwhile, the equivalent of 1,000 truckloads of health and nutrition supplies are waiting outside the borders to be delivered, and the United Nations is on the verge of running out of fuel.
In an update on Friday, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) noted that no fuel has entered the Strip for 16 weeks. Since the ceasefire was broken in March, the humanitarian community has been repeatedly denied the ability to bring in new supplies or access existing ones inside Gaza.
The lack of fuel has direct consequences for families and their children, because without fuel, essential services like water production and health services will have to stop or use unsafe water.
On Wednesday, the UN secured fuel from the At Tahreer station in Rafah, some of which was delivered on Thursday to public utilities in southern Gaza. This enabled the continued operation of desalination plants, water trucking services, and sewage pumping stations.
According to aid agencies, the delivery provided vital relief and bought time before the shutdown of key water and sanitation systems. However, instability and shortages in fuel continue to limit operations, resulting in reduced hours and capacity.
“In a war already defined by its brutality, Gaza now teeters at its deadliest edge. Currently just 40 percent of drinking water production facilities remain functional in Gaza - 87 out of 217. Without fuel, every one of these will stop operating within weeks,” said UNICEF's Elder.
Since electricity to Gaza was cut off following attacks by Palestinian armed groups in October 2023, fuel has been essential for producing, treating, and distributing water to the more than two million Palestinians who are still surviving in Gaza.
Acute watery diarrhea already accounts for one in every four recorded diseases in Gaza, and there are suspected cases of hepatitis A, which is highly infectious and quickly fatal. As the weather grows warmer in the coming weeks, the situation is only expected to worsen.
Untreated malnutrition and disease create a deadly cycle. Poor nutrition makes people more vulnerable to serious diseases like acute diarrhea, and acute and prolonged diarrhea exacerbates poor health and malnutrition, particularly in children, putting them at high risk of death.
“This is an urgent warning. Concerted action is immediately needed to stop starvation from escalating, malnutrition from rising, disease from spreading, water from running dry, and ultimately, to prevent mounting, wholly preventable child deaths,” said Beigbeder.
“Humanitarian aid and commercial goods must be allowed to enter, from all available crossings, and be delivered quickly, safely and with dignity to families in need wherever they are.”
His colleague echoed this sentiment.
“If the current more than 100-day blockade on fuel coming into Gaza does not end, children will begin to die of thirst. Diseases are already advancing, and chaos is tightening its grip,” Elder said.
“And so, in the most relatable terms: Gaza is facing what would amount to a man-made drought. Water systems are collapsing.”
The UNICEF spokesman said this is a man-made crisis that can be stopped because none of the problems are logistical or technical.
“They are political. Denial has become policy. If there is political will, the water crisis will be eased overnight – fuel would mean that water flows from hundreds of groundwater wells and restores supply within a day. But time is running out,” he added.
According to health officials in Gaza, Israeli forces have killed more than 55,600 Palestinians — most of whom were children, women, and the elderly — and injured more than 130,000 others in attacks on the Gaza Strip since October 2023.
However, the true number of deaths is believed to be much higher. Thousands more remain buried under the rubble, as a lack of equipment and insecurity hinder rescue efforts for the wounded and missing. Additionally, thousands more are estimated to have died from indirect causes, such as lack of medical care, lack of shelter, dehydration, and starvation.
According to a UN report released this week, Israeli armed and security forces were the worst perpetrators of grave violations against children last year, including killing and maiming children, as well as attacking schools and hospitals. Israeli forces accounted for 19 percent of the verified incidents worldwide.