OCHA: Ongoing blockade, attacks fuel further suffering in Gaza

13 May 2025

OCHA warns that no aid or commercial supplies have entered Gaza for more than 70 days. The ongoing, full-scale blockade of the Strip is taking a disastrous toll on the population.

Meanwhile, hospitals continue to come under attack. Today in Khan Younis, Israeli forces hit the surgical department of Nasser Medical Complex, with several casualties reported. The complex is one of only eight public hospitals that are still partially operating across Gaza.

Following the attack, the Deputy Humanitarian Coordinator, Suzanna Tkalec – together with an OCHA team* – visited the hospital, where she spoke with staff and a team of international doctors there. She said she was appalled by yet another attack on this hospital, the fourth since the beginning of this war. Ms. Tkalec stressed that these attacks are unacceptable and must stop, reminding that healthcare facilities and those serving them must always be protected.

Humanitarian partners on the ground report that only five hospitals across the Strip are still providing maternity care. Midwives lack supplies and equipment, with partners reporting that some 17,000 pregnant and breastfeeding mothers are suffering from malnutrition and need urgent support.

As hostilities continue across Gaza, the UN and its partners provided information sessions to children in Khan Younis this week, guiding them on how to try and avoid unexploded ordnance.

Meanwhile, the UN and its humanitarian partners continue to visit people in their communities to assess their needs. Last Friday in Deir al Balah, a team visited two schools that were hit by an air strike a couple of days prior. Hundreds of families who are sheltering there need food parcels, water tanks and latrines. Partners are doing their best to distribute whatever emergency shelter supplies are left, as tents are depleted.

OCHA reports that the Israeli authorities continue to deny and impede attempts by humanitarians to carry out critical missions in Gaza. Today, out of 11 UN requests for coordinated humanitarian movements, five were denied outright, including one planned mission to retrieve fuel from Rafah to supply hospitals, ambulances, and water, sanitation and hygiene facilities. The other six missions, which included the rotation of staff, were facilitated.

With both supplies and time running out, OCHA underscores that principled humanitarian assistance and other essential supplies must be allowed into Gaza to save lives – and humanitarians’ work to reach people across the Strip must be facilitated. Israel, as the occupying power, must abide by international humanitarian law and facilitate aid for people in need, wherever they are.

At 3 p.m. EDT this afternoon, the Security Council will hold an open meeting on Gaza. Tom Fletcher, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, will brief. Mr. Fletcher’s remarks will be available on the UNISPAL database.