UNITED NATIONS, Apr 11 (IPS) – Since the breakdown of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, the Gaza Strip has been subjected to significant bombardment and blockages of humanitarian aid. With aid deliveries having been halted from entering the Gaza Strip for over one month, roughly two million Palestinians have been relying on dwindling resources, facing heightened risks of malnutrition and disease.
On April 10, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed a letter from over 1,000 current and retired Israeli Air Force reservists that called for an end to the war. Describing the extended warfare as “marginal and extremist”, the soldiers urged Israeli authorities to prioritize the retrieval of Israeli hostages rather than continuing hostilities.
“As has been proven in the past, only a deal can bring back the hostages safely, while military pressure mainly leads to the killing of the hostages and the endangerment of our soldiers. Currently, the war serves mainly political and personal interests, not security interests,” said the soldiers in the letter to Netanyahu.
In a social media statement shared to X (formerly known as Twitter), Netayahu supported the Minister of Defense and the Chief of Staff in dismissing the soldiers who signed the letter. Additionally, Netanyahu rejected the statement, criticizing it for weakening the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and strengthening its enemies.
“This is an extremist fringe group that is once again trying to break Israeli society from within. They already tried to do this before October 7th, and Hamas interpreted the calls for refusal as weakness,” added Netanyahu.
On April 8, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) released a situation update on the conditions in the Gaza Strip. According to the update, deliveries of humanitarian aid have been blocked from entering Gaza since March 2, marking the longest blockade since the start of the war in 2023.
Essential resources, such as food, shelter, medical supplies, and clean water, are dwindling at a rapid pace. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warns that malnutrition, disease, and preventable child deaths are projected to surge as Palestinians survive on critically low rations.
“UNICEF has thousands of pallets of aid waiting to enter the Gaza Strip,” said UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa Edouard Beigbeder. “Most of this aid is lifesaving – yet instead of saving lives, it is sitting in storage. It must be allowed in immediately. This is not a choice or charity; it is an obligation under international law.”
According to UNICEF, complementary food rations for infants has been depleted entirely in central and southern Gaza. All that remains for young children in these areas is a small supply of ready-to-use infant formula that will cover 400 children for one month. Approximately 10,000 small children under six months that require supplemental feeding will be forced to find alternatives “mixed with unsafe water”, which increases risks of malnutrition and waterborne illness.
In early April, 25 bakeries that were supported by the World Food Programme (WFP) were forced to close as a result of a depleted supply of flour and fuel. Continued orders of evacuation have resulted in the closure of 15 percent of all nutrition sites in the enclave, disrupting treatment for approximately 350 children struggling with acute malnutrition. It is estimated that nutrition screenings for children have dropped by roughly 30 percent, reaching only 58,000 children in March, marking a drop of 25,000 from February.
As a result of the breakdown of the ceasefire, humanitarian organizations have been forced to abandon work on critical water and sanitation infrastructures, with many having been left non-functional and at risk of further damage. In central and southern Gaza, desalination plants have reduced their output of clean water production by 85 percent due to power cuts. In northern Gaza, families survive on the remainder of water from trucks of previous aid deliveries.
Furthermore, the average daily allowance of drinking water for over 1 million people, including 400,000 children, has decreased from 16 litres to 6. It is estimated that if resources are depleted in the coming weeks, daily water consumption per person could drop below 4 liters.
Due to renewed hostilities and evacuation orders, UNICEF has been forced to scale back services in mental health, psychosocial support, mine awareness education, and child protection. Additionally, Gaza’s healthcare system has been pushed to the brink of collapse. Medical facilities have been forced to shut down or operate at a semi-functional level due to widespread insecurity and displacement orders, endangering the lives of thousands of Palestinians in the enclave.
According to a press release from the World Health Organization (WHO), there are roughly 55,000 pregnant women in Gaza, one-third of which struggle with high-risk pregnancies. 20 percent of newborns are born prematurely, underweight, or with birth complications, and are faced with a lack of neonatal care. Additionally, essential medical resources, such as blood units, anesthesia, ultrasound machines, oxygen pumps, incubators, ventilators, medications, and vaccines are in extremely short supply.
Additionally, thousands of Palestinians are endangered by bombardments, artillery shellings, and unexploded ordnance in the Gaza Strip. According to estimates from Polish Humanitarian Action (PAH), roughly 1,400 Palestinians have been killed and 3,500 were injured in Gaza since the deterioration of the ceasefire. In April, there have been numerous reports of attacks on schools, hospitals, and civilian shelters, which constitute violations of international humanitarian law.
PAH estimates that over 2 million people in Gaza are currently in danger due to hostilities from the IDF. In the last three weeks alone, over 400,000 people have been forcibly displaced. Roughly 65 percent of the Gaza Strip is subject to evacuation orders from the IDF.
“As aid has dried up, the floodgates of horror have reopened. Gaza is a killing field – and civilians are in an endless death loop,” said United Nations (UN) Secretary-General António Guterres. “With crossing points into Gaza shut and aid blockaded, security is in shambles and our capacity to deliver has been strangled…It is time to end the dehumanization, protect civilians, release the hostages, ensure life saving aid, and renew the ceasefire”.
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