Mounting international pressure urges urgent humanitarian action amid escalating airstrikes and warnings of genocide in Gaza.
Gaza City has come under relentless bombardment, with heavy air and drone strikes targeting residential districts for a third consecutive day, according to the territory’s Hamas-run civil defence agency. The Zeitoun and Sabra neighbourhoods have been hit hardest, leaving homes destroyed and residents unable to retrieve the dead and wounded from the rubble.
Mahmud Bassal, a civil defence spokesman, described “massive destruction to civilian homes,” while residents reported that tanks and fighter jets carried out intense shelling, shaking the ground with each strike. “There are martyrs under the rubble that no one can reach because the shelling hasn’t stopped,” said Zeitoun resident Majed al-Hosary. Another, Amr Salah, likened the onslaught to “the war restarting,” as multiple missiles hit eastern Gaza.
The attacks come as Israel prepares to occupy Gaza City, a move approved by its war cabinet and condemned during an emergency session of the UN Security Council. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pledged to dismantle what he calls the “two remaining Hamas strongholds” and outlined a three-step plan to increase aid—designating safe corridors, expanding air drops, and working with partners to distribute supplies.
On the ground, however, humanitarian agencies say aid is not reaching those in need. The UK, EU, Australia, Canada, and Japan issued a joint statement warning that “famine is unfolding in front of our eyes” and calling for “immediate, permanent and concrete steps” to ensure aid flows into Gaza. They condemned the use of lethal force at aid sites, where the UN estimates more than 1,300 Palestinians have been killed, largely by Israeli fire. Israel denies famine is occurring, blaming UN agencies for failing to distribute aid.
The World Health Organization has also urged Israel to allow stockpiling of medicines and supplies in anticipation of a “catastrophic” health crisis. “We currently cannot do that. We need to be able to get all essential medicines and medical supplies in,” said Rik Peeperkorn, WHO’s representative in the Palestinian territories.
The Hamas-run health ministry reported that 100 bodies had been brought to hospitals in the past 24 hours, including 31 people killed at aid sites, and five who died from malnutrition. International concern intensified further when “The Elders”—a group of former world leaders—labelled the situation an “unfolding genocide” for the first time. After visiting the Gaza border, Helen Clark, former prime minister of New Zealand, and Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland, declared: “There is not only an unfolding, human-caused famine in Gaza. There is an unfolding genocide.”
With airstrikes intensifying and warnings from global leaders growing louder, Gaza’s population faces a worsening crisis—caught between the devastation of war and the deprivation of starvation.