The UN’s aid chief, Tom Fletcher, has described Sunday’s aid deliveries to Gaza as a “drop in the ocean” of what the civilian population needs, warning that the next few days are “make or break”. Speaking to the BBC, he said that during the 42-day ceasefire earlier this year, 600-700 aid trucks entered Gaza each day, but yesterday only 120 trucks got through, and much of the food was looted by desperate civilians.
Fletcher stressed that the humanitarian pauses implemented by Israel “may last a week or so”, which is clearly insufficient as the territory faces a “21st-century atrocity”. He said hundreds of thousands of people are “desperately hungry”, and that the UN and its partners could reach everyone in Gaza within weeks if given full access at border crossings and security permits.
Israeli strikes killed at least 36 Palestinians on Monday, including a pregnant woman and her newborn, amid mounting international pressure over the spiralling hunger crisis. UN Secretary-General António Guterres declared that Israel’s “creeping annexation” of the West Bank is illegal and the “wholesale destruction” of Gaza must stop.
US President Donald Trump said he wants Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “make sure they get the food”, while British Prime Minister Keir Starmer described the situation as an “absolute catastrophe”. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi called on Trump to help end the war and deliver aid.
At least 59,921 Palestinians have been killed since 7 October 2023, according to the Gaza health ministry. Two leading Israeli human rights organisations, B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights, have accused Israel of committing genocide.
