Humanitarian aid during the Gaza war

For humanitarian aid entered since the imposition of the Israeli blockade in 2007, see Humanitarian aid to Gaza.

During the Gaza war, humanitarian aid entered into the Gaza Strip via air, land and sea. Early in the war, significant issues arose with humanitarian aid. Israel's initial blockade on Gaza, immediately following the 7 October attacks, prevented the entry of humanitarian aid for several weeks. As the war progressed, aid was allowed at limited quantities. Entities such as Oxfam, the European Union, United Kingdom, and United Nations stated that Israel is deliberately blocking humanitarian aid. These limitations have contributed to a severe humanitarian crisis and a risk of famine. Israeli airstrikes and continued restrictions on aid entry led to widespread shortages of food and supplies. Distribution of aid within Gaza has also been an issue. Thousands of truckloads of aid piled up as armed men stop convoys, threaten drivers, and rifle through the cargo. Lawlessness was reported by PBS to be a major obstacle to aid distribution to southern and central Gaza. Gaza's police have refused to protect aid convoy after airstrikes killed eight police officers in Rafah.

Humanitarian aid agencies warned of the dire humanitarian consequences of aid restrictions, particularly after major Western donors announced they would cease funding UNRWA, the major aid relief agency in Gaza, and Israel passed legislation to ban UNRWA from working in or with the State of Israel.

In January 2024, UN Secretary-General António Guterres appointed then-First Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands Sigrid Kaag as Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza. By May 2024, the UN World Food Programme warned that humanitarian operations were "near collapse". In June 2024, the EU Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarcic, stated the majority of people in Gaza were "fully dependent" on humanitarian aid. In October 2024, the United Nations found that Israel had arbitrarily blocked 83% of aid entering Gaza in the prior year. According to UNICEF, more aid workers had been killed in Gaza by summer 2024 than in any war since the founding of the United Nations, with at least 278 killed.

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