![Palestinians struggle to survive their daily lives in makeshift tents among the rubble of buildings destroyed by Israeli attacks in Beit Lahia, Gaza on March 17, 2025 [Abdalhkem Abu Riash - Anadolu Agency]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/AA-20250318-37376575-37376570-DAILY_LIFE_IN_BEIT_LAHIA.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1)
The UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator reported today that Gaza Strip’s “worst fears materialised” last night as Israel unexpectedly renewed deadly air strikes on the Palestinian enclave.
“Overnight, worst fears materialised,” Tom Fletcher told the UN Security Council. “Air strikes resumed across the entire Gaza Strip with unconfirmed reports of hundreds of people killed. New evacuation orders issued by Israeli forces. Once again, the people of Gaza are living in abject fear. Modest gains made during the ceasefire are being destroyed.”
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Fletcher also condemned Israel’s decision to cut off humanitarian aid since 2 March, when the occupation authorities cut off the entry of all lifesaving supplies — food, medicines, fuel, cooking gas — for 2.1 million people. “Our repeated requests to collect aid sitting at Kerem Shalom crossing have also been systematically rejected,” he added.
The senior UN official warned that the total blockade of humanitarian aid and essential goods “will have a disastrous impact on the people in Gaza who remain dependent on a steady flow of assistance.”
Emphasising what was possible with the 42-day ceasefire, Fletcher said that “aid delivery was enabled, and we could scale up quickly and effectively.”
He noted the release of 30 hostages and 583 Palestinian detainees, as well as the entry of over 4,000 aid trucks per week.
Fletcher raised alarms about the worsening situation in the occupied West Bank, where he said at least 95 Palestinians, including 17 children, have been killed since the beginning of 2025.
“Some 40,000 Palestinians have been displaced in these [Israeli military] operations, including from refugee camps and cities,” he said, describing widespread destruction across the occupied Palestinian territory.
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He outlined three urgent steps that must be taken immediately: “First and foremost, humanitarian aid and commercial essentials must be allowed to enter Gaza. Blocking food, water and medicine for people who need them is unconscionable. Second, we must renew the ceasefire.”
The third step, he pointed out is funding the humanitarian response. “We have received only four per cent of what is needed; we don’t even have enough to get through this quarter,” he warned, before quoting a Palestinian doctor’s final message before being killed in the Strip: “Whoever stays until the end will tell the story. We did what we could. Remember us.” Fletcher then turned to the Security Council and asked. “Will we be able to say that we did what we could?”
The Israeli army pounded the Gaza Strip overnight on Tuesday, killing at least 404 people and wounding hundreds, breaking a ceasefire agreement with the Palestinian resistance group, Hamas, that took effect 19 January.
Images showed that the majority of victims were civilians, including women and children, whose homes were bombed during the night.
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