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Gaza: Top UN envoy calls on Israel to end devastating strikes, starvation of civilians

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Sigrid Kaag, interim UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, said that the man-made crisis unfolding in Gaza has plunged civilians into “an abyss.”

“Since the collapse of the ceasefire in March, civilians have constantly come under fire, confined to ever-shrinking spaces, and deprived of lifesaving relief,” she said.

“Israel must halt its devastating strikes on civilian life and infrastructure.”

Risk of famine

With families cut off from aid for weeks on end, and only a fraction of the needed relief now entering the enclave, starvation looms.

“The entire population of Gaza is facing the risk of famine,” Ms. Kaag warned, adding that the limited aid permitted into the enclave is “comparable to a lifeboat after the ship has sunk.”

“Ms. Kaag emphasized that humanitarian aid must not depend on political negotiations, noting that the UN aid operation is prepared to deliver assistance immediately, in accordance with international law.

“Aid cannot be negotiable,” she said.

Full aid access imperative

Ms. Kaag called on Israel to halt its devastating strikes and allow full access for humanitarian aid and commercial goods.

At the same time, she stressed that Israel has the right to live in peace and security.

“This was undeniably shaken by the horrific terror attacks and taking of hostages on 7 October by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups,” she said, reiterating the call on Hamas and other armed groups to stop rocket attacks against Israel and release all hostages unconditionally.

Sigrid Kaag, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Ad Interim, briefs the Security Council on the situation in the Middle East.

Sigrid Kaag, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Ad Interim, briefs the Security Council on the situation in the Middle East.

Two-State solution

Ms. Kaag emphasised that durable security “cannot be achieved solely through force”, it must be built on mutual recognition, justice, and rights for all.

“A better path exists that resolves this conflict, de-escalates regional tensions and achieves a shared vision for peace,” she said.

The upcoming high-level international conference in June, co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia, presents a critical opportunity to relaunch a path toward ending the occupation and realising the two-State solution based on international law, UN resolutions and previous agreements.

“It must not be another rhetorical exercise,” she said.

“We need to pivot ourselves from declarations to decisions. We need to implement rather than adopt new texts.”

‘See you in heaven’

In her briefing, Ms. Kaag described the deep despair of civilians in Gaza, where families now bid farewell not with a “goodbye, see you tomorrow”, but with the words “see you in heaven.”

“Death is their companion. It’s not life, it’s not hope,” she continued, stressing that Gazans deserve more than survival – they deserve a future.

Urging bold political action, she called for adherence to international law, and support for a reformed Palestinian Government that can govern both Gaza and the West Bank.

“Statehood is a right, not a reward,” Ms. Kaag said.

“Let us not be remembered as the generation that let the two-State solution disappear. Let us be the generation that chose courage over caution, justice over inertia and peace over politics. Let us be part of a generation that can make this happen.”

Special Coordinator a.i. Kaag’s briefing to the Security Council.

US ‘fully stands’ with Israel

Speaking for the United States, John Kelley, Political Coordinator at the US Mission to the UN, said that his country has been working tirelessly to free the hostages and bring the war to an end – “one that Hamas brutally started”.

“Hamas continues to reject proposals from the US, Qatar and Egypt that would release the 58 remaining hostages, who have now been cruelly held for 600 days, and bring calm to Gaza,” he said.

“Every day Hamas demonstrates its lack of regard for the Palestinians it claims to represent, all while it violently suppresses protests against its barbaric rule and diverts aid meant for civilians.”

He underscored that the US “fully stands” behind Israel and its right to defend itself, stating that to move forward, “Hamas must be defeated.”

“As Secretary [Marco] Rubio has said – if an ember survives, it will spark again into a fire. There can no peaceful and prosperous Gaza as long as Hamas governs it by force,” Mr. Kelley said.

The horrors must end: Algeria

Algerian Ambassador Amar Bendjama described the deadly impact of the ongoing war in Gaza on children, citing the specific case of the nine children of a Gazan doctor, all killed in an airstrike, while her sole remaining child and husband remain in a critical condition.

“They were not members of a centre for command and control of Hamas,” he said, adding, “the Israeli army killed them, they killed them deliberately.”

He noted that today, no one in Gaza is spared – and three decades after the optimism surrounding the Oslo peace accords between Israel and Palestinian leadership, “the dream of a Palestinian state is vanishing under the boots of the Israeli occupation and the silence of the international community.”

Stating that the “time for indecision” was over, he called for action – “not words of condemnation”.

“These horrors must end,” he said.

Gaza needs a ceasefire, not more bloodshed: United Kingdom

James Kariuki, Deputy Permanent Representative of the UK, said his country has “always supported” Israel’s right to defend itself but cautioned that it “strongly opposes” Israel’s escalating military action in Gaza, “which is wholly disproportionate.”

“An immediate ceasefire, not more bloodshed is the way to secure the release of the hostages and stop the end cycle of violence,” he said.

The level of human suffering in Gaza is intolerable, he continued, stating that the United Nations had warned of the risks of the Israeli Government’s aid delivery plan.

“In Rafah yesterday, we saw this warning become a reality. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation lost control of its distribution centre, with multiple casualties reported and great distress for those desperately seeking aid,” he said.

“In contrast, the UN has a clear plan to deliver lifesaving aid at scale. It contains robust mitigations against aid diversion. Brave humanitarians stand ready to do their jobs,” he added. “Let aid in and enable the UN to operate now.”

A wide view of the UN Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East.

Images of hungry, desperate people ‘gut-wrenching’: Palestine

Riyad Mansour, Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine, said the images of hungry and desperate people trying to get aid supplies in are “gut-wrenching” and “heart breaking.”

“These are people, human beings, deprived of water, food, medicine for so long and hanging to life by a thread,” he said, adding that this is “outraging the Palestinian people – all of them, including me.”

“It is outrageous to see this situation, and still you are not acting,” he said, pointing to Security Council members: “how much more do you want?”

He added that the UN plan for aid, with its proven capacity on the ground remains the only viable plan to deliver relief supplies and it has all necessary safeguards – “if that is the true concern.”

“But the true concern is how to get rid of the Palestinians by killing them, starving them, and destroying Gaza so they have no choice but to leave if they want to live,” Mr. Mansour said.

Israel is facilitating aid into Gaza: Ambassador

Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon said that while the UN “spreads panic and makes declarations detached from reality, the State of Israel is steadily facilitating the entry of aid into Gaza.”

This, he said, is being done via two methods.

“First, under the old framework, via trucks and, second, under the new distribution mechanism developed in coordination with the US and key international partners,” he continued, noting that both mechanisms are “working simultaneously” and will continue to do so for the immediate future.

“We are not only allowing aid in, but we are ensuring that it reaches the people who need it most,” he added.

Aid is already being distributed in Gaza, Ambassador Danon said, despite efforts by Hamas to obstruct people from reaching it by setting up checkpoints and roadblocks.

“Because Hamas knows if it loses control over the aid, it loses control over the people of Gaza,” he said.

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Gazans’ suffering goes on amid intensifying Israeli strikes

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In occupied East Jerusalem, meanwhile, Israeli protesters illegally entered a compound of the UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA.

The development comes after the Israeli military coordination unit COGAT said on Saturday that 388 trucks had entered Gaza since last Monday – the first aid to arrive in well over two months of blockade that have caused hunger levels to spike.

Humanitarians have repeatedly warned that at least 500 to 600 trucks need to cross into Gaza every day to provide people with their daily needs – as they did before war erupted on 7 October 2023 after Hamas-led terror attacks on Israel.

Token assistance

“We are on the back of 11 weeks of nothing entering the Gaza Strip, no food, no medicines for 11 weeks, nothing apart from bombs,” said James Elder, a spokesperson for the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

“And so today, a week after life-saving aid was finally allowed into Gaza again, the scale of that aid is painfully inadequate,” he told UN News. “It looks like a token that appears more like cynical optics than any real attempt to tackle the soaring hunger crisis among children and civilians in Gaza.”

Today, Gazans remain at “critical risk of famine”, UN-backed food security experts warned earlier this month. In their latest update, they estimated that one in five people in Gaza – 500,000 – faces starvation.

Another school hit

Reports on Monday indicated meanwhile that Israel’s intensifying military operation in northern Gaza against alleged terrorists and their infrastructure had killed at least 50 people in air strikes.

One attack hit a school in Gaza City sheltering hundreds of people uprooted by more than 19 months of violence. Footage reportedly taken after the incident showed the silhouette of a child stumbling through a classroom set ablaze at Fahmi al-Jarjawi school.

Another air strike hit a home elsewhere in Gaza City killing four people, according to the health authorities.

UN-run shelters are now “overwhelmed with displaced people desperately seeking safety”, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said in an update on Monday. It also underscored that the lack of food has added to people’s suffering.

“Many families are sheltering in abandoned, unfinished, or damaged buildings,” the agency explained. “Sanitation conditions are dire; in some cases, hundreds of people are having to share a single toilet. Others, including children and pregnant women, are sleeping in the open.”

Farming smashed

Across Gaza, less than five per cent of the Strip’s cropland remains available for cultivation, according to UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the United Nations Satellite Centre (UNOSAT).

Using high-definition imagery, the agencies’ findings emphasize just how much food production capacity has shrunk in Gaza because of the war, exacerbating  the risk of famine.

As of April 2025, more than 80 per cent of the Gaza Strip’s total cropland area has been damaged (12,537 hectares out of 15,053) and 77.8 percent is not accessible to farmers, leaving just 688 hectares (4.6 percent) available for cultivation.

The situation is particularly critical in Rafah and in the northern governorates, where nearly all cropland is not accessible.

Settler protest

Following the protest at the UNRWA compound in occupied East Jerusalem on Monday, a spokesperson for the UN agency noted that one member of the Israeli Knesset had joined the settlers inside the gates. Monday is a national holiday in Israel, marking the moment following the Six-Day War in 1967 when the country’s troops occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank.

The UNRWA facility – located in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood of occupied East Jerusalem – has been targeted in past arson attacks that set light to the perimeter fence.

At the end of January, UNRWA withdrew its staff from the compound in protest at the entry into force of an Israeli law banning the agency’s operations in occupied East Jerusalem.

The location retains its status as a UN facility that is protected under international law. 

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UN rights mission deplores deadly Russian strikes in Ukraine

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According to the UN mission, the overnight assault from Saturday into Sunday – one of the largest of its kind since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022 – resulted in civilian casualties and damage to homes and infrastructure across 10 regions of Ukraine, including the capital, Kyiv.

At least three children were among those killed and nine children were reported injured. The mission is currently working to verify the full extent of the casualties and the broader impact of the attack.

“With at least 78 people reported killed or injured across the country, last night’s attack tragically demonstrates the persistent deadly risk to civilians of using powerful weapons in urban areas, including those far away from the frontline,” Danielle Bell, HRMMU Head, said in a news release on Sunday.

“It is yet another addition to the staggering human toll this war continues to inflict on civilians, with more families across the country now grieving their losses.”

No place is safe

Matthias Schmale, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Ukraine, also voiced deep concern over the civilian suffering.

“I am horrified that yet again civilians – among them children – were killed in last night’s massive attacks,” he said in a statement posted on the social media platform X.

“Across Ukraine, no place is safe. Homes and civilian infrastructure were hit. Grateful to humanitarian NGOs and state services who are immediately supporting affected people. Civilians must never be a target.”

Use of long-range weapons

Ukrainian authorities reported that the Russian armed forces launched at least 367 missiles and loitering munitions during the night, in a coordinated attack with air, sea and land-based systems.

The strike followed a similar assault the previous night, which had mainly targeted the Kyiv region.

HRMMU noted that the use of long-range weapons in urban areas has been a major driver of civilian casualties in March and April. While the number of casualties in May had been somewhat lower than April before the latest attack, the toll from this weekend’s strikes will add to the monthly figures.

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Gaza: Strikes on houses and tents responsible for over half of deaths this week

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629 Palestinians were reportedly killed over the past week, according to OHCHR in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.  

At least 358 were killed because of attacks targeting houses and tents for displaced people, with children and women accounting for at least 148 of the victims.

“The high number of strikes on shelters, in the context of the existing destruction of infrastructure in Gaza, raises grave concerns that not all strikes were targeting military objectives,” OHCHR said.

Journalists under fire

Furthermore, nine Palestinian journalists were killed last week, making it one of the deadliest for the profession since the conflict began in October 2023.

Although journalists have a deep sense of duty to their work, “they, too, are displaced, tired and hungry like the rest of the population of Gaza,” OHCHR said.

“However, it appears that in many instances, these journalists may have been deliberately targeted with the intention of limiting the flow of information on what is happening in Gaza and the scale of the impact that this war is having on civilians.”

The office said international journalists must be allowed into Gaza and their safety ensured.

Aid on the move

Meanwhile, lifesaving aid is making its way across the enclave following a nearly 80-day blockade.

UN aid coordination office OCHA confirmed that 90 trucks carrying nutrition supplies, flour, medicines and other critical stocks left the Kerem Shalom border crossing on Wednesday for multiple destinations inside Gaza.

Among the supplies were more than 500 pallets containing items such as ready-to-use therapeutic food and nutritional supplements which were offloaded at a warehouse in Deir Al-Balah belonging to the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

The contents are being unpacked and repackaged into smaller loads for onward transportation to distribution points.

Workers pack freshly baked bread into bags for distribution at Al-Banna Bakery in Deir al-Balah, Gaza.

Famine risk persists

A handful of bakeries in south and central Gaza, supported by the UN World Food Programme (WFP), are also now operational and are back to baking bread, which is being distributed via community kitchens.

“However, after nearly 80 days of a total blockade of humanitarian assistance, families still face a high risk of famine, and far more aid is urgently needed into the Gaza Strip,” said Mr. Dujarric.

Food security experts recently warned that Gaza’s entire population, over two million people, are at risk of famine, with nearly half a million facing starvation.

Humanitarians underlined the critical need for Israel to facilitate the movement of aid convoys, including from southern Gaza into the north, so that all supplies can reach people in need wherever they are. 

“We also need to ensure the use of secure routes from Kerem Shalom onward into Gaza, as we did last night,” the Spokesperson said.

Strikes and shelling continue

Meanwhile, military operations continue across Gaza, with reports of strikes, shelling and fresh ground incursions.

The Al Awda hospital in North Gaza caught fire on Thursday, reportedly after being attacked. The medicine warehouse was heavily damaged, according to initial reports.

“Through coordination with Israeli authorities, OCHA facilitated the access of the Palestinian Civil Defense to the area, where they spent hours working to extinguish the fire,” said Mr. Dujarric.

He added that water wells in some areas of Gaza are shutting down as no fuel has been allowed in since the blockade.

“OCHA reports that Israeli authorities continue to deny our attempts to deliver fuel from areas where coordination is required,” he said. 

Healthcare under attack

The World Health Organization (WHO) warned that Israel’s intensified military operations continue to threaten Gaza’s already weakened health system. 

Four major hospitals have had to suspend medical services in the past week due to their proximity to hostilities or evacuation zones, and attacks. 

Only 19 out of 36 hospitals remain operational. Twelve provide a variety of health services, while the rest are only able to provide basic emergency care. 

WHO has recorded 28 attacks on healthcare in Gaza over the past week, and 697 attacks since October 2023. 

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Drone strikes on civilian infrastructure in Port Sudan must end: UN expert

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“These ongoing attacks on critical infrastructure are putting lives at risk, worsening the humanitarian crisis, and violating basic human rights,” said Radhouane Nouicer, the designated expert on the human rights situation in Sudan, appointed by UN rights office OHCHR.

Targeted sites include the city’s main electricity substation and fuel and gas storage facilities, leading to widespread power cuts and restricted access to food, water and healthcare. Some strikes have hit densely populated areas, displacing residents.

“It is devastating to see the continued destruction of infrastructure and social services in Sudan,” Mr Nouicer added.

Once a lifeline, now a target

Since civil war erupted in April 2023, Port Sudan has served as a vital entry point for humanitarian aid. The conflict has killed over 18,000 people, displaced 13 million, and left 30.4 million in need of assistance.

That lifeline has come under threat. A drone strike on the Port Sudan airport forced the UN to temporarily suspend aid flights and the movement of humanitarian personnel.

Guterres calls for coordinated action

At the League of Arab States Summit in Iraq over the weekend, UN Secretary-General António Guterres called for renewed international engagement to end the violence in Sudan.

“Multilateral efforts are urgently needed to stop the appalling violence, famine and mass displacement,” he said.

The UN chief also met with the African Union and Arab League leadership to discuss ways to ensure unhindered humanitarian access and work towards a “durable, comprehensive ceasefire.”

Escalating attacks

Port Sudan is not alone. Similar strikes have been reported in North River Nile and White Nile states, where power stations have allegedly been targeted by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia, which has been battling Government troops during a brutal civil war for control of Sudan.

Mr Nouicer called these attacks a “major escalation” with “alarming implications” for civilian protection.

He urged all parties to stop targeting civilian sites, in line with international law.

“Civilian infrastructure is protected under international law and must never be a target,” he said.

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Gazans ‘in terror’ after another night of deadly strikes and siege

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Updating journalists in Geneva, Dr. Margaret Harris described another night of terror in the war-torn enclave.

She said that some of those injured in the attacks had sought help from the Indonesian hospital in northern Gaza, even though it was now “just a shell” after 19 months of war.  

“We’ve done our best to bring it back together and they are doing their best to treat everyone, but [medical teams] lack everything needed,” she insisted.

Rejecting accusations that relief supplies have been handed over to Hamas, the WHO spokesperson said that “in the health sector, we’ve not seen that. All we see is a desperate need at all times.”

Echoing that message, the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, explained that a stringent system of checks and reports to donors meant that all relief supplies were closely tracked in real time, making diversion highly unlikely.  

Even if it were happening, “it’s not at a scale that justifies closing down an entire life-saving aid operation,” OCHA spokesperson Jens Laerke said.

“If you had been in a coma for the last three years and you woke up and saw this for the first time, anyone with common sense would say this is insane.”

The development comes more than 10 weeks since the Israeli authorities stopped all food, fuel, medicines and more from reaching Gaza.  

To date, their proposal for an alternative aid distribution platform bypassing existing UN agencies – widely criticized by the humanitarian community – has not been implemented.  

The result has been rising malnutrition – unknown in Gaza before the war – and looming famine, while thousands of truckloads of essential supplies have had to be stored in Jordan and Egypt, according to UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestine refugees and the largest aid operation in Gaza.

In its latest update, OCHA said that the UN and its partners have 9,000 truckloads of vital supplies ready to move into Gaza. More than half contain food assistance which could provide months of food for the enclave’s 2.1 million people.

An inventory of the relief supplies “waiting just outside the borders to get in” illustrates their humanitarian purpose, Mr. Laerke said.

Pasta and stationary: Weapons of war?

“It includes educational supplies, children’s bags, shoes, size three to four years old and up to 10 years old; stationery and toys, rice, wheat flour and beans, eggs, pasta, various sweets, tents, water tanks, cold storage boxes, breastfeeding kits, breastmilk substitutes, energy biscuits, shampoo and hand soap, floor cleaner. I ask you, how much war can you wage with this?”

Mr. Laerke said that UN officials have held 14 meetings with the Israeli authorities about their proposed aid scheme, which if implemented would restrict aid “to only part of Gaza” and exclude the most vulnerable.

“It makes starvation a bargaining chip,” he maintained.

More than 53,000 people have been killed in Gaza since war erupted on 7 October 2023 in response to Hamas-led terror attacks on Israel, according to the health authorities.  

WHO said only 255 patients needing specialist care outside the Strip have been evacuated since 18 March leaving more than 10,000 patients – including approximately 4,500 children – who also need urgent medical attention outside Gaza.

In response to this week’s attack on the European General Hospital in Khan Younis, WHO’s Dr. Harris noted that it had been used as a meeting point for an evacuation. “That first bombing, as you probably know, destroyed two of the buses that we’d assembled to take children,” she added.

On Tuesday, the Security Council heard the UN’s top aid official Tom Fletcher call for immediate international pressure to stop Gaza’s “21st century atrocity” – a message amplified by OCHA’s Mr. Laerke:

“The situation as it has developed now is so grotesquely abnormal that some popular pressure on leaders around the world needs to happen,” he said.

“We know it is happening, I’m not saying that people are silent, because they are not. But it doesn’t appear that their leaders are listening to them.”