UNRWA says 2 million Palestinians, mainly women and children, face collective punishment

Palestinians, including women and children, scramble to collect food during a distribution by the charity organization in the Jabalia Refugee Camp in northern Gaza City, Gaza on April 12, 2025. [Mahmoud İssa – Anadolu Agency]

Two million Palestinians, a majority of whom are women and children, are undergoing collective punishment, the commissioner-general of UNRWA has pointed out.

“Hunger is spreading and deepening, deliberate and manmade,” Philippe Lazzarini told the media on Tuesday. “Humanitarian aid is being used as a bargaining chip and a weapon of war [by Israel in the Gaza Strip].”

Lazzarini insisted that Israel’s “siege must be lifted, supplies must flow in, the hostages must be released, the ceasefire must resume.” How much longer until hollow words of condemnation will translate into action to lift the siege, resume a ceasefire and save whatever is left of humanity, he asked.

At dawn on 18 March, the Israeli occupation state resumed its genocide and intensified the blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip, following a two-month ceasefire agreement that went into effect on 19 January. Israel violated the terms of the agreement throughout the ceasefire period.

READ: Israel army wants $2.7 billion to continue Gaza war

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