UN calls on Israel to lift its blockade of aid into Gaza and end the ‘cruel collective punishment’
Palestinian children receive donated food at a distribution center in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, April 21, 2025THE UNITED Nations emergency relief co-ordinator urged Israel today to lift its blockade of aid into the Gaza Strip, saying the halting of humanitarian aid amounts to “cruel collective punishment.”
Israel has blocked any humanitarian aid from entering the territory since it broke the ceasefire agreement with Hamas in March, throwing Gaza into what is believed to be the worst humanitarian crisis in nearly 19 months of bombings.
Israel claims that the blockade and its renewed military campaign are intended to pressure Hamas to release the remaining hostages it still holds and to disarm.Israel’s latest destruction of Gaza followed Hamas’s October 7 2023 attack, in which the militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251.Hamas is still holding 59 hostages, 24 of whom are believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.As Israel continued its strikes on the Palestinian enclave, another 18 people were killed and dozens more were wounded, Gaza’s Health Ministry said today.
Tom Fletcher, the UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief co-ordinator, said today that while the hostages should be released and should never have been taken in the first place, international law mandates that Israel allow humanitarian aid into Gaza.
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