As a long-awaited ceasefire between Israel and Hamas appears imminent, the United Nations has announced plans to scale up humanitarian assistance to Gaza — but cautioned that without unrestricted access and security guarantees, aid delivery will remain dangerously unreliable.
Tom Fletcher, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, said the UN aims to ramp up food and medical supplies into Gaza once the truce begins, with “hundreds of aid trucks entering the enclave daily” over the first 60 days. The plan also includes restoring Gaza’s shattered health system and providing cash support to some 200,000 families to cover basic food needs.
“We will expand the food pipeline to reach 2.1 million people in need and address the severe hunger affecting half a million Palestinians,” Fletcher said. “But the truth is simple — we cannot distribute aid in any reliable or safe way under current conditions.”
A Crisis Beyond Logistics
The UN has repeatedly blamed the deepening famine on Israel’s severe restrictions on the movement of goods and humanitarian personnel, as well as the collapse of law and order inside Gaza. Fletcher urged all parties to ensure secure humanitarian corridors, warning that famine “must be eradicated where it has already taken hold and prevented from spreading further.”
A recent report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) revealed that famine conditions are already affecting more than 500,000 people in Gaza. Israel’s near-total blockade on food imports earlier this year, which lasted nearly three months, pushed the territory to the brink of starvation. Although restrictions were eased slightly in July, aid agencies say the amount entering Gaza is still far from sufficient.
Beyond food assistance, the UN says it will focus on restoring Gaza’s devastated healthcare infrastructure. Thousands of tents and essential supplies are being prepared to shelter families before the onset of winter.
“We are scaling up shelter support, bringing in tents and other materials every week,” Fletcher said. “Our focus is on the most vulnerable — families who have lost everything and have nowhere to go.”
UN Secretary-General António Guterres emphasized earlier today that humanitarian workers must be granted safe, sustained access to deliver aid effectively. “Routine procedures must be abandoned,” he said. “Without real guarantees, our plans remain on paper.”
A Ceasefire Amid Catastrophe
The announcement comes as Israel and Hamas reportedly reached an agreement to halt hostilities, expected to take effect within 24 hours pending approval by the Israeli government. The deal includes partial Israeli troop withdrawal, the release of hostages, and the entry of aid convoys into the enclave.
The war, now entering its second year, has killed over 67,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, and left Gaza’s population on the verge of collapse. The UN says the humanitarian system is operating “on the edge of failure,” with no stable mechanism to deliver food, fuel, or medicine to those most in need.
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