Total siege Aid blockade creates crisis 'unmatched in severity'

Gaza has been pushed to new depths of despair, civilians, medics and humanitarian workers say, by the Israeli military blockade that has cut off all aid to the territory.

- Bethan McKernan

Gaza has been pushed to new depths of despair, civilians, medics and humanitarian workers say, by the Israeli military blockade that has cut off all aid to the territory.

The siege, which is now more than seven weeks long, has left the Palestinian territory facing conditions unmatched in severity since the beginning of the war as residents grapple with sweeping new evacuation orders, the renewed bombing of civilian infrastructure such as hospitals, and the exhaustion of food, fuel for generators and medical supplies.

Israel unilaterally abandoned a two-month ceasefire with Palestinian militant group Hamas on 2 March, cutting off vital supplies. Just over two weeks later, it resumed large-scale bombing and redeployed ground troops withdrawn during the truce.

Since then, political figures and security officials have repeatedly vowed that aid deliveries will not resume until Hamas releases the remaining hostages seized during the 7 October 2023 attacks that ignited the conflict. Israel's government has framed the new siege as a security measure and has repeatedly denied using starvation as a weapon, which would constitute a war crime.

The blockade is now in its eighth week, making it the longest continuous total siege the strip has faced to date in the 18-month war.

Firmly supported by the US, Israel appears confident that it can maintain the siege with little international pushback.