The UN chief on Friday said that Palestinians were enduring “the cruelest phase” of the war in Gaza, where more than a dozen food trucks were looted following the partial easing of a lengthy Israeli blockade.
Aid was just beginning to trickle back into the war-torn territory after Israel announced it would allow limited shipments to resume as it pressed a newly expanded offensive aimed at destroying Hamas.
Palestinian Civil Defense official Mohammed al-Mughayyir said that at least 71 people were killed, while “dozens of injuries, and a large number of missing persons under the rubble have been reported as a result of Israeli air strikes” on Friday.
Photo: AFP
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a statement that “Palestinians in Gaza are enduring what may be the cruelest phase of this cruel conflict,” adding that Israel “must agree to allow and facilitate” humanitarian deliveries.
However, he pointed to snags, saying that of the nearly 400 trucks cleared to enter Gaza over the past few days, only 115 were able to be collected.
“In any case, all the aid authorized until now amounts to a teaspoon of aid when a flood of assistance is required,” he added.
“Meanwhile, the Israeli military offensive is intensifying with atrocious levels of death and destruction,” he said.
The World Food Programme (WFP) on Friday said that 15 of its “trucks were looted late last night in southern Gaza, while en route to WFP-supported bakeries.”
“Hunger, desperation and anxiety over whether more food aid is coming, is contributing to rising insecurity,” the UN body said in a statement, calling on Israeli authorities “to get far greater volumes of food assistance into Gaza faster.”
Aid shipments to the Gaza Strip restarted on Monday for the first time since March 2, amid mounting condemnation of the Israeli blockade, which has resulted in severe shortages of food and medicine.
“I appeal to people of conscience to send us fresh water and food,” said Sobhi Ghattas, a displaced Palestinian sheltering at the port in Gaza City. “My daughter has been asking for bread since this morning, and we have none to give her.”
The Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, an Israeli Ministry of Defense body that oversees civilian affairs in the Palestinian territories, said that 107 humanitarian aid trucks entered Gaza on Thursday.
However, UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini on Friday said that the UN had brought in 500 to 600 per day on average during a six-week ceasefire that broke down in March.
“No one should be surprised, let alone shocked at scenes of precious aid looted, stolen or ‘lost,’” he wrote on X, adding that “the people of Gaza have been starved” for more than 11 weeks.
The Israeli military said that over the past day, its forces had attacked “military compounds, weapons storage facilities and sniper posts” in Gaza.
“In addition, the [air force] struck over 75 terror targets throughout the Gaza Strip,” it added.
Israel resumed operations in Gaza on March 18, ending the ceasefire that began on January 19.
On Friday, the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza said at least 3,673 people had been killed in the territory since then, taking the war’s overall toll to 53,822, mostly civilians.
Hamas’s October 2023 attack that triggered the war resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to official Israeli figures.
Militants also took 251 hostages, 57 of whom remain in Gaza, including 34 whom the Israeli military said are dead.
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