UN agency says its food aid in Gaza has depleted
The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has said it no longer has food to provide as aid in Gaza, following Israel’s aid blockade, which has gone on for seven weeks, the BBC reported on April 25th.
Malnutrition is swiftly getting worse, the UN also warned. One of the UN’s humanitarian partners recently evaluated 1,300 children in northern Gaza and found over 80 instances of critical malnutrition. The UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported drastic shortages of medicine and medical supplies.
The WFP said: “The situation inside the Gaza Strip has once again reached a breaking point.” It added: “People are running out of ways to cope, and the fragile gains made during the short ceasefire have unravelled.”
The agency also warned that “without urgent action to open borders for aid and trade to enter, WFP’s critical assistance may be forced to end.”
All 25 bakeries supported by the WFP in Gaza were left with no choice but to shut down at the end of March, after there was no wheat flour and cooking fuel left.
Earlier in April 2025, Israel’s foreign ministry dismissed the UK, France, and Germany’s condemnation of the blockade. The nations had jointly urged an immediate end to the blockade in a shared statement. The ministry asserted that Israel didn’t have to permit aid entry, claiming Hamas had “hijacked” aid “to rebuild its terror machine.”
Gaza’s Government Media Office stated that 52 individuals, including 50 children, have already died from starvation and severe undernourishment, according to Al Jazeera on April 25th. Over a million children also suffer from hunger daily.
Although the humanitarian emergency worsens, Israel has not indicated any intention to end the blockade. Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz declared that his country would continue obstructing aid, calling it a strategy to “pressure” Hamas.
On April 7th, Israel’s far-right Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich pledged to uphold a complete blockade on humanitarian aid going into Gaza, Middle East Eye reported. At the Yedioth Ahronoth’s People of Israel Conference, he stated that “not even a grain of wheat will enter Gaza.”
Al Jazeera, BBC, Middle East Eye
