Gaza ministry warns aid shortages worsening amid Israeli restrictions

Gaza’s Ministry of Social Development has accused Israel of trying to downplay the scale of hunger in the territory, saying aid entering the enclave remains far below what residents need.

The ministry said on Wednesday that Israeli claims denying the existence of a hunger crisis were an attempt to obscure worsening humanitarian conditions.

It also accused Israel of failing to meet the terms of the ceasefire agreement, particularly a provision requiring at least 600 aid trucks to enter Gaza each day.

Aziza al-Kahlout, a spokesperson for the ministry, told The New Arab that figures on the number of trucks entering Gaza did not necessarily reflect how much aid was reaching civilians.

“Statistics on the number of trucks entering the territory do not necessarily equal the amount of aid that reaches citizens,” she said.

She said UN data showed that while aid was entering Gaza, the amount reaching residents and being distributed remained far below the level of need.

According to al-Kahlout, no more than 30% of those requiring humanitarian assistance were currently benefiting from it.

She said ministry databases showed that 513,000 families needed support, while more than 95% of Gaza’s population had become fully dependent on aid.

More than 90% had also lost their purchasing power because of the war and Israeli restrictions, she said.

Al-Kahlout estimated that the amount of aid entering Gaza was equivalent to no more than 15% of the population’s overall needs.

She also said cash assistance to families had fallen by 40%, while other forms of relief had also declined.

A humanitarian protocol agreed under US President Donald Trump’s ceasefire plan on 10 October 2025 stipulated that at least 600 aid trucks should enter Gaza every day.

Gaza’s Government Media Office said on Tuesday that Israel was allowing in only about 35% of required food supplies, accusing it of practising “silent starvation”.

It said 69,387 aid and food trucks had entered Gaza over the 330 days since the ceasefire agreement was signed, compared with 198,000 that should have entered under the agreement.

Israel has said large quantities of humanitarian aid are entering Gaza.

But UN agencies have repeatedly warned that the amount reaching civilians and the ability to distribute it remain constrained.

In August, UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said 94% of Palestinians in Gaza needed shelter and basic household supplies.

UN data released for World Humanitarian Day also showed that four in five families were facing critical or catastrophic levels of hunger in shelters already struggling with shortages of fuel, power and essential goods.