Israel continues to block aid deliveries to Gaza since March 2025, UN agency says

ISTANBUL

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said Thursday that Israel has continued to block its humanitarian aid from entering the Gaza Strip since March 2025, leaving critical supplies stranded in neighboring countries.

The UNRWA said its humanitarian shipments, including food, hygiene kits, medicines and shelter items, remain stored in warehouses in Egypt and Jordan and have not been allowed into Gaza for months.

“UNRWA’s humanitarian supplies — food, hygiene kits, medicines and shelter items — remain stuck in warehouses in Egypt and Jordan, banned from entering Gaza since March 2025,” the agency said on the US social media platform X.

“Life-saving aid is ready to move. There is no time to lose,” it added.

The refugee agency said its teams have continued providing essential services on the ground and called for permission to scale up aid deliveries.

Israel banned UNRWA’s operations in occupied East Jerusalem at the end of 2024 and has imposed mounting restrictions on the agency, accusing it of links to Hamas. The United Nations has repeatedly rejected those allegations.

Palestinians continue to face dire conditions as a result of Israel’s two-year war in Gaza and ongoing military operations in the occupied West Bank.

Despite a ceasefire in effect since Oct. 10, 2025, Israel has not allowed the agreed quantities of humanitarian aid into Gaza, where about 2.4 million Palestinians live, including roughly 1.5 million who have been displaced.

Israeli forces have also carried out daily airstrikes across Gaza in violation of the ceasefire, killing 574 Palestinians and wounding 1,518 others, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

Israel launched its war on Gaza on Oct. 8, 2023, with US backing. The offensive killed about 72,000 Palestinians and wounded more than 171,000, most of them women and children, and destroyed about 90% of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure.

*Writing by Lina Altawell