Israel Using Humanitarian Aid as a “Bargaining Chip and Weapon of War” in Gaza, Says UNRWA
Gaza (Quds News Network)- The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, has called for the Israeli siege on Gaza to be lifted, accusing Israel of using humanitarian aid as a “bargaining chip and a weapon of war” in the Palestinian enclave, as the blockade approaches the end of its second month.
In a post on X, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees said people in Gaza are experiencing “a cycle of deadly violence and deprivation”.
“Humanitarian aid and commercial supplies have been blocked from entering the Gaza Strip since 2 March by the Israeli authorities,” UNRWA said.
“Since the collapse of the ceasefire last month, intense military activities and hostilities have escalated”, killing and injuring hundreds of civilians.
“The siege must be lifted.”
People in #Gaza have been plunged into a cycle of deadly violence and deprivation.
Humanitarian aid and commercial supplies have been blocked from entering the Gaza Strip since 2 March by the Israeli authorities.
Since the collapse of the ceasefire last month, intense military… pic.twitter.com/Tu8BQYOrx3
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) April 27, 2025
Jonathan Whittall, head of the UN’s humanitarian agency (OCHA) in Gaza, also warned on Saturday that Gaza is on the brink of “full-scale famine conditions.”
“The coming days in Gaza are going to be critical. Today, people are not surviving in Gaza. Those that aren’t being killed with bombs and bullets are slowly dying,” Whittall told journalists at a news conference in Gaza City on Saturday.
“As humanitarians, we can see that aid is being weaponized through its denial,” he said. “There’s no justification for the denial of humanitarian assistance.”
The World Food Programme (WFP) announced on Friday it had delivered its last remaining supplies to kitchens providing hot meals in Gaza and that the facilities were expected to run out of food in the coming days.
The same day, Gaza’s Government Media Office said that famine was becoming a reality in the enclave of 2.3 million people.
Lately, Defense Minister Israel Katz clarified and reiterated that no aid convoys will be allowed inside the Strip as a tool to pressure Hamas.
“Israel’s policy is clear and no humanitarian aid will be allowed into Gaza,” Israel Katz said in a statement on X.
Preventing humanitarian aid from entering the Strip “is one of the main pressure tools that stops Hamas from using this means against the population,” Katz claimed.
“In the current reality, no one is going to allow any humanitarian aid into Gaza, and no preparations are being made to allow any aid of this kind,” he said.
Humanitarian agencies have sounded alarm over the worsening crisis in Gaza, where Israel has enforced a blockade on food, water, fuel, medical supplies, and other essential aid since March 1.
OCHA called it “likely … the worst humanitarian crisis in the 18 months” since the war began.
“Kids are eating less than a meal a day and struggling to find their next meal,” said Bushra Khalil, policy head of the aid group Oxfam.
“Everyone is purely eating canned food. … Malnutrition and pockets of famine are definitely occurring in Gaza.”
“Humanitarians have been forced to watch people suffer and die while carrying the impossible burden of providing relief with depleted supplies, all while facing the same life-threatening conditions themselves,” added Amande Bazerolle, emergency coordinator in Gaza for Doctors Without Borders or MSF.
“This is not a humanitarian failure — it is a political choice, and a deliberate assault on a people’s ability to survive, carried out with impunity,” she said in a statement.
Palestinian lives are being systematically destroyed as Israel’s continued bombardment of the Gaza Strip shows a “blatant disregard” for the safety of humanitarian workers, MSF warned.
“Gaza has been turned into a mass grave of Palestinians and those coming to their assistance. We are witnessing in real time the destruction and forced displacement of the entire population in Gaza,” said Bazerolle.
“In terms of humanitarian supplies … I mean, to say dwindling would be putting it nicely,” Liz Allcock, head of humanitarian protection of Medical Aid for Palestinians, a United Kingdom-based humanitarian organization, said.
“We’re really scraping the barrel in terms of being able to provide anything of substance,” Allcock said, speaking from Gaza.
Abeer Etefa, a spokesperson for the WFP, described the situation in Gaza as “dire and worsening,” with all WFP-supported bakeries across the territory closing after wheat flour ran out March 31. By early April, she said, the WFP had also exhausted its stocks of food parcels for distribution.
The WFP and its partners have 85,000 tons of food waiting to enter the enclave, she said.
The Global Nutrition Cluster, a coalition of humanitarian groups, has warned that in March alone, 3,696 children were newly admitted for care for acute malnutrition alone, out of 91,769 children screened — a marked increase from February, when 2,027 children were admitted from a total of 83,823 screened, OCHA said.
Meanwhile, the UN has sounded the alarm that medical supplies in the enclave are running low, while casualties continue to fill hospitals.
Etefa added that Israeli military assaults across the enclave have been affecting humanitarian groups’ ability to deliver aid.
Since Israel’s resumption of the war on March 18, more than 2060 Palestinains have been killed in Gaza, a majority of them children and women. More than 51,400 have been killed since 7 October 2023, with more than 117,400 wounded.
