Gaza Humanitarian Access Snapshot #11

GAZA, PALESTINE — Humanity & Inclusion, and other organizations provide an update on the situation in Gaza from January 19 to March 2, 2025, releasing the Humanitarian Access Snapshot #11

A fragile ceasefire in Gaza allowed for a relative scale-up of life-saving humanitarian aid between January 19 and March 2, 2025. However, this progress was abruptly halted when the Government of Israel unilaterally resumed hostilities on March 18, killing more than 400 people in a single day. Meanwhile, Israeli forces intensified military operations in the occupied West Bank, severely disrupting humanitarian aid delivery. This included demolishing Palestinian homes, forcibly displacing approximately 40,000 people, and destroying critical infrastructure.

Since March 2, Israeli authorities have reinstated a complete siege on Gaza, blocking all aid and commercial goods from entering for more than six weeks to date, which marks the most extended period the Government of Israel has blocked all aid and goods from entering Gaza in history.

Since March 18, attacks by Israeli forces in Gaza have killed over 1,630 Palestinians, injured more than 4,200, and forcibly displaced over 419,300. The Palestinian death toll now nears 51,000 in Gaza, according to the Ministry of Health, and is approaching 1,000 in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

The UN Secretary-General has called Gaza a “killing field” and warned that civilians in Gaza are in an “endless death loop”. The weaponization of aid, including withholding food, water, health care, and shelter, has led to a surge in preventable deaths and threatens the dignity and survival of Palestinians in Gaza.

A humanitarian worker in Gaza states,

"Our fears have grown stronger, not only for ourselves but for our families as well. It breaks our hearts to witness children and our community struggling with severe hunger. The situation is becoming more difficult each day. We are doing our best to deliver essential supplies to those who need them most, but the community is facing an overwhelming shortage of food and medical supplies. We feel helpless not being able to assist everyone in need.”

Humanitarian Presence Reduced – Services Frozen: Aid Does not Reach People in Need

Targeting aid storage and distribution efforts has significantly hindered the ability to provide timely support to vulnerable populations. Almost all of the surveyed NGOs operating in Gaza (95%, 41 out of 43) reported that they had to suspend or significantly reduce their activities, thus limiting movements to only the most critical necessities, to mitigate risk exposure for both aid recipients and staff. The UN announced it would reduce its international staff presence for the same reasons.

The impact of these difficult decisions is very high, as reported by surveyed organizations: Only the most vital services are maintained: food parcels, hot meals, water trucking, some shelter assistance, and crucial medical care. As supplies have already started to run out due to the complete siege, even these services are becoming increasingly scarce or are shutting down completely.

Most surveyed NGOs that implement mental health, psychosocial support, recreation, or education activities have reported a complete suspension of those services. A few attempt to provide support remotely using messaging apps but face significant connectivity challenges. As a result, hundreds of thousands of children, women, people living with disabilities or illnesses, as well as older people, have lost access to assistance that was essential to their survival, well-being, and basic dignity. Protection and accountability are also threatened as the overall law-and-order situation has deteriorated, looting incidents have increased, monitoring activities have been paused, and the international presence has been reduced.

Another humanitarian worker in Gaza affirms,

“These strikes are increasingly indiscriminate and unpredictable, which can make distributions dangerous for staff, partners, and civilians. Our staff members have also been affected by the new forced displacement orders since March 18, meaning many have been displaced again.”