Israel has repeatedly used food and international humanitarian aid as a tool of collective pressure against Palestinians over 17 months of its devastating war on the Gaza Strip.
Civilians in the enclave have been subjected to extreme food shortages and famine-like conditions throughout the war. Dozens of children have died of starvation, and countless others have succumbed to wounds or preventable illnesses during a deteriorating man-made humanitarian disaster.
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Israeli authorities continue to starve Palestinians in the besieged enclave, which is home to 2.3 million people, after having blocked the entry of desperately needed humanitarian aid once again in early March. And on March 18, Israel unilaterally broke a ceasefire that had held since January, relaunching attacks across Gaza, and killing hundreds more Palestinians.
The combination of the bombs and debilitating humanitarian situation is rapidly worsening conditions for the people of Gaza, but it has been a constant since the beginning of the war in October 2023. Here’s a closer look at how Israel has used aid to punish Gaza:
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October 2023
- October 9: Israel announces a “total blockade” on the Gaza Strip, halting the entry of all food, water, medicine, fuel and electricity.
Then-Defence Minister Yoav Gallant promises action against “human animals”, and orders a “complete siege”.
Thirteen months later, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issues an arrest warrant against Gallant and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on charges that include the “war crime of starvation as a method of warfare”.
- October 21: The first aid truck enters Gaza via a land route from Egypt as the Israeli military carries on with two weeks of deadly bombing.
The Israeli military eventually allows an extremely limited number of aid trucks to enter the enclave after international pressure.
November 2023
- November 24: A temporary truce is reached between Israel and Hamas, allowing a slight increase in the humanitarian aid entering Gaza.
The United Nations and international aid agencies report that the amount of aid entering Gaza is highly inadequate to meet the needs of the population, most of whom are children.
The temporary cessation of attacks enables several limited exchanges of captives held in Gaza and Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, but there is no promise for an end to the war or for the return of Palestinians forced out of their homes as a result of the fighting.
The Gaza truce then ends a week after it started, and relentless Israeli attacks restart, killing more civilians, journalists, aid workers and doctors along with Hamas figures.
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February 2024
- February 29: Israel kills at least 112 Palestinians and wounds more than 750 when it opens fire on Palestinians waiting for food aid southwest of Gaza City in what is called the “flour massacre”.
The Israeli military carries out numerous similar attacks on life-saving aid convoys, often saying “terrorists” are being targeted but without providing evidence.
The UN and other international agencies and aid workers repeatedly report that the Israeli authorities intentionally block many aid trucks meant to enter the enclave.
Israeli attacks along with blocked aid and dire conditions created by Israeli ground offensives and destruction across Gaza also lead to aid convoys being attacked and looted.
Far-right Israelis also on numerous occasions either attack aid convoys or try to stop them from entering Gaza.
April 2024
- April 1: Israeli drone strikes target an aid convoy with the World Central Kitchen (WCK), killing six international aid workers and a Palestinian driver.
The WCK is forced to halt its humanitarian operations, similar to many other international aid organisations that temporarily or permanently stop their assistance to Palestinians.
An investigation by Al Jazeera’s Sanad verification agency finds that the three WCK vehicles were intentionally hit, adding to a record death toll of hundreds of mostly Palestinian aid workers killed since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza.
October 2024
- October 6: The Israeli military commences a massive siege on northern Gaza, designating the entire area a combat zone and issuing forced evacuation orders to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians.
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The siege on the north, which is accompanied by Israeli attacks across other parts of Gaza, lasts until a ceasefire with Hamas comes into effect on January 19, 2025.
The entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza is heavily restricted by Israel throughout the winter amid low temperatures.
Far-right Israeli government ministers, chief among them Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, call for the blockage of all humanitarian aid and for a military occupation of Gaza, preferring this to the option of a ceasefire.
January 2025
- January 19: The implementation of the ceasefire allows a surge of humanitarian aid into Gaza, something relief organisations say would need to persist for a long time before life could return to any semblance of normality.
Israel allows more trucks to enter Gaza in the days after the truce comes into effect, but the volume of aid is much less than what had been agreed upon in the ceasefire.
As babies die from the cold, the Israeli government prevents the entry of thousands of mobile homes meant to shelter displaced Palestinians along with heavy equipment required to clear the rubble of destroyed homes and infrastructure.
March 2025
- March 2: For the second time since the start of the war, Israel halts the entry of all humanitarian aid into Gaza, an order that currently remains in effect.
- March 10: Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), warns that another hunger crisis looms in Gaza and accuses Israel of an illegal “weaponisation of humanitarian aid”.
- March 18: Israel ends the ceasefire, and its military conducts one of the heaviest bombing campaigns in Gaza yet, killing more than 400 Palestinians and wounding more than 500, many of them children, on the first day alone.
- March 25: The UN announces it is withdrawing 30 percent of its international staff from Gaza after an Israeli air strike on March 19 kills a Bulgarian UN staff member and severely wounds six other foreign workers.
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