Gaza government says Israel has blocked aid deliveries for nearly 80 days
Enclave faces worsening famine, with not ‘a single grain of wheat� allowed to enter for nearly three months
GAZA CITY, Palestine/ISTANBUL
Israel has not allowed any humanitarian aid into Gaza for nearly 80 days, the Gaza Media Office said Monday, warning that a crippling blockade and systematic starvation threaten the lives of 2.4 million Palestinians.
“No genuine aid has entered the Gaza Strip for more than 80 days under a complete siege and worsening famine,” the office said in a statement.
It added that Israeli forces have fully closed all border crossings and “have not permitted a single grain of wheat to enter for nearly three months.”
The statement described the situation as “a deliberate policy of starvation targeting 2.4 million unarmed civilians.”
It said Israel has claimed to allow only nine trucks loaded with nutritional supplements for children to enter Gaza -- representing just 0.02% of the approximately 44,000 aid trucks that should have reached the Gaza Strip since the blockade intensified on March 2.
Gaza requires around 500 aid trucks and 50 fuel trucks daily to meet the minimum humanitarian needs of its population, the statement said.
The office held Israel and the international community “fully responsible for this ongoing humanitarian crime,” calling for immediate international intervention to open all border crossings unconditionally and allow the entry of essential aid “before it’s too late.”
Israel has continued to impose a systematic starvation policy on approximately 2.4 million Palestinians in Gaza by sealing off all crossings to aid shipments which have been stranded at the border since March 2. The blockade has pushed the enclave into famine.
On Sunday evening, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed that Israel “will permit the entry of a basic quantity of food for the population to prevent the emergence of a hunger crisis in the Gaza Strip.”
Israel’s public broadcaster KAN quoted an unnamed Israeli official saying that the food entry would be a temporary measure lasting about a week, during which distribution centers would be completed, mainly in southern Gaza.
The centers will be managed by the Israeli military and operated by American companies, the report said.
Earlier Monday, Israeli Army Radio reported that Tel Aviv plans to allow only nine trucks carrying humanitarian aid into Gaza, the first such delivery since March 2.
The Israeli army has pursued a brutal offensive against Gaza since October 2023, killing nearly 53,500 Palestinians, most of them women and children.
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last November Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
