Egypt Daily News – Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz announced on Wednesday that Israel will not permit the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza. He stated that withholding aid is a key method to limit Hamas’s influence over the population.
This announcement came shortly after a warning from the United Nations about the deteriorating humanitarian conditions in Gaza. On Monday, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) described the situation as the worst since the outbreak of war in October 2023. The agency noted that no supplies have entered Gaza for over six weeks, marking the longest aid disruption since the conflict began.
“A mass grave”
Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières) also condemned Israel on Wednesday, accusing it of blocking life-saving assistance. The group stated that there is no safe refuge left for civilians or humanitarian workers. Amanda Bezerol, an emergency coordinator, said, “Gaza has become a mass grave for Palestinians and for those trying to help them,” adding that the entire population is being displaced while aid operations suffer from severe insecurity and a lack of supplies.
On the ground, Gaza’s Civil Defense Agency reported that Israeli airstrikes early Wednesday killed at least eleven people, including women and children. In total, over twenty people have been killed in Israeli air and artillery strikes between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.
Targets included the Yarmouk camp for displaced people, where three were killed, and an apartment building in central Gaza, where two others died. According to Reuters, residents in Rafah said the Israeli military has been demolishing more homes in the city, now under full Israeli control.
This is reportedly part of a broader Israeli effort to expand “security zones” within Gaza, aiming to intensify pressure on Hamas to release the remaining hostages.
Meanwhile, Gaza’s healthcare system is facing collapse. The Ministry of Health in Gaza warned of critical shortages in medicine and medical supplies following the continued closure of border crossings.
Patients and caregivers at Al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza said they are not receiving even basic care. One patient, recovering from abdominal surgery and leg injuries, said: “I need painkillers and treatment, but nothing is available. All of us are waiting in pain.”
Another woman, bedridden for a month waiting for surgery, said the delay was due to a lack of equipment and medications. The father of a child with a broken arm said the hospital had just one operating room and no medicine: “My son cries all day from the pain.”
Gazan resident Hashem described being at the Kuwaiti hospital when it was bombed without warning. “Cars were destroyed, people were killed and injured. Doctors and patients ran in fear. If hospitals aren’t safe, where do we go?” he said.
Ahmed Said added: “We need a ceasefire and peace. There’s no food, no water, and the crossings are shut. Even the so-called safe zones are being bombed non-stop.”
In response to recent developments, the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned what it called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “provocative incursion” into northern Gaza. The ministry said his actions reflect “disregard for the international consensus calling for an end to genocide, forced displacement, and annexation.”
According to the ministry’s statement, Netanyahu’s visit and remarks are intended to escalate the conflict and avoid compliance with the International Court of Justice’s precautionary measures and relevant UN resolutions.
