UN Warns of “Gravest International Crimes” in Gaza, Accuses Israel of Blocking Aid

The United Nations has accused Israel of committing “acts reminiscent of the gravest international crimes” in Gaza, where a month-long ground offensive and ongoing siege have left the civilian population facing a humanitarian catastrophe, Al Jazeera reports.

Joyce Msuya, interim chief of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told the UN Security Council on Tuesday that the situation in Gaza is “an intensified, extreme, and accelerated version of the horrors of the past year,” describing the territory as “a wasteland of rubble.”

Msuya specifically condemned Israel’s blockade of humanitarian aid to northern Gaza, where an estimated 75,000 people remain trapped with dwindling food and water supplies.

“As I brief you, Israeli authorities are blocking humanitarian assistance from entering North Gaza, where fighting continues,” she said.

She also questioned the alleged selectivity of Israeli attacks, pointing to the widespread destruction of civilian housing.

“What distinction was made and what precautions were taken, if more than 70 percent of civilian housing is either damaged or destroyed?” she asked.

The meeting of the UNSC was called following a report by international food security experts warning of an imminent famine in parts of northern Gaza.

While Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon dismissed these reports as “baseless and slanderous,” UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric confirmed that humanitarian aid reaching Gaza has been drastically reduced, with the UN World Food Programme (WFP) only able to reach half of those reliant on their assistance.

Dujarric highlighted the difficulties faced by aid convoys in reaching northern Gaza, citing delays in receiving authorization from Israeli authorities and crowds of desperate people waiting for supplies. Despite a planned delivery of food and water to shelters in Beit Hanoon on Monday, only two trucks were able to reach their destination. Subsequent attempts to deliver aid to the area have been denied by Israel.

The UN continues to call for the immediate opening of land routes into Gaza and the lifting of restrictions within the territory to ensure efficient delivery of aid to vulnerable populations.

Palestine’s UN envoy, Riyad Mansour, went further, accusing Israel of perpetrating “famine as a method of war” and engaging in “ethnic cleansing” in Gaza.