Palestinians in Gaza are now enduring one of the darkest chapters in the war that erupted in October 2023.
Since hostilities resumed on 18 March, Israeli forces have intensified military operations across the enclave, forcibly displacing civilians through mass evacuation orders and attacks on medical and humanitarian workers, many of whom have been killed.
Now, more than 50 days into a total blockade of the Strip, these actions are forming part of what rights groups describe as a systematic effort to dismantle the healthcare system in Gaza and cripple any humanitarian response.
Israel’s ongoing campaign has escalated into what observers are calling widespread war crimes. The toll includes direct attacks on civilians, hospitals, civil-defence units, bakeries, UN facilities, and media outlets.
Most recently, the Israeli authorities have imposed a near-total ban on food and medical supplies entering Gaza in flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and particularly of the Fourth Geneva Convention that is meant to safeguard civilians in conflict zones.
Despite mounting international appeals for a ceasefire and unimpeded aid access, Israel continues to expand its offensive. Following a meeting of its Security Cabinet, the Israeli government approved an escalation of the ground operations in Gaza, according to reports by Israeli broadcaster Kan.
The phased plan reportedly involves broadening operations in specific areas of Gaza before expanding to others, with military activity expected to continue for several months. Israeli news outlet Walla quoted a senior Israeli official confirming the cabinet’s green light to broaden the military action in Gaza.
According to the Israeli media, the implementation of the plan may be postponed until after US President Donald Trump’s expected visit to the Middle East in ten days in a delay that would give Israel time to coordinate both field and diplomatic measures.
Israel’s Channel 12 TV station revealed ongoing tensions between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government and the Israeli military establishment, including officers handpicked by Netanyahu himself.
Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi reportedly warned Israel’s political leaders that further ground operations could endanger the Israeli captives in Gaza. Nevertheless, the government proceeded with the expansion and announced a plan to deliver aid to Gaza, though Halevi insisted that Israeli troops would not directly distribute humanitarian supplies.
The military has issued tens of thousands of call-up orders to reservists to support the campaign. According to both Palestinian and Israeli sources, the Israeli Army is carrying out large-scale demolitions in northern parts of Rafahin southern Gaza, including widespread explosions in recently occupied areas.
CONTINUING SIEGE: Speaking to Al-Ahram Weekly, Israeli affairs analyst Abu Arak Nayef Bajali said the Israeli government would likely maintain the siege to pressure Hamas, especially by withholding fuel and other materials that could bolster the group’s position.
However, he noted that basic necessities such as food would be allowed into Gaza to tightly controlled lists of approved recipients. “Israel is trying to kill two birds with one stone,” he said. “It wants to strip Hamas of its role as the population’s caretaker while sending a message to the international community that it is not starving Gaza’s civilians.”
“This is designed to bolster its claim to legitimacy as it continues the military operation to recover the captives and pursue what Netanyahu calls ‘total victory.’”
In response to questions about the large-scale call-up of Israeli reservists, Bajali said that “Israel is serious, but whether this turns into an all-out war remains to be seen. I believe Netanyahu does not favour a full-scale war, as the hawks in his government do.”
“Instead, he seeks to ramp up the pressure on Hamas by fragmenting the Gaza Strip, as was seen with the isolation of Rafah via the new Morag Corridor. His aim is to create a ‘half-war’ scenario avoiding both prolonged conflict and formal negotiations while exhausting Hamas militarily and politically.”
Bajali warned that the Israeli military is taking the recent decisions seriously, particularly the risks posed to the Israeli captives in Gaza. Chief of Staff Halevi, he said, is wary of repeating the mistakes of his predecessor should the hostages be killed or Israeli casualties rise sharply.
“Unlike the political leadership, Halevi understands that wars are not fought from offices but by soldiers on the ground,” he added.
Halevi’s concerns have reportedly aligned with Netanyahu’s cautious approach. Israeli journalist Michael Shemesh cited sources confirming that the prime minister supports Halevi’s reservations regarding further escalation.
According to Bajali, Israel is unlikely to alter its course without one of two pressures coming into play – a major geopolitical incentive such as the prospect of normalisation of relations with Saudi Arabia in exchange for Hamas’ removal and disarmament or heavy battlefield losses.
“Historically,Israel has only shifted its stance under substantial duress, whether from a superpower or from mounting casualties, as was seen in its withdrawals from Southern Lebanon in 2000 and Gaza in 2005,” he said.
Meanwhile, the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is rapidly deteriorating, with more than 70,000 children hospitalised due to acute malnutrition, according to the Palestinian Government Media Office in Gaza.
The office stated that the Israeli authorities have prevented the entry of baby formula and essential food supplies into Gaza for 64 consecutive days, putting over 3,500 children at risk of death from starvation.
In a statement, it warned that approximately 290,000 children are on the brink of catastrophe, while 1.1 million children are currently deprived of the minimum daily nutrition required for survival.
The office accused Israel of committing a deliberate policy of starvation, calling it a form of genocide under international law and holding the international community accountable for its silence and inaction.
It urged the United Nations and humanitarian organisations to act immediately to pressure Israel to reopen the border crossings into Gaza, to allow the entry of baby formula and nutritional supplements, and to end what it described as an “inhumane siege.”
WARNINGS OF FAMINE: Reporting from Deir Al-Balah in the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian journalist highlighted the contrast between global celebrations of World Press Freedom Day on 3 May and the reality faced by journalists and civilians in Gaza.
“I fear revealing my identity while speaking of how we, journalists and civilians alike, are being slowly killed, not just by bombs, but through the denial of food and medicine,” he told Al-Ahram Weekly.
He added that journalists are daily witnesses to what he described as Israeli war crimes, including the withholding of food supplies from children. “Gaza’s residents are living through a real humanitarian tragedy, while the world watches silently,” he said.
Since the war on Gaza began, he continued, Israel has claimed to implement mechanisms to protect civilians and humanitarian workers. “But these were nothing more than window dressing. Over 50,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, and at least 409 humanitarian workers have died, according to the United Nations,” he said.
“Even these pretences have now collapsed,” he added. “Evacuation orders are displacing Palestinians into overcrowded, makeshift zones, where aid workers have no guarantees of safety. Aid itself has become a political weapon. Israel imposes arbitrary restrictions on international humanitarian actors, feigning openness to aid delivery while forcing medical and relief workers to compromise both their safety and their principles.”
Several international humanitarian organisations have sounded the alarm over Gaza’s worsening crisis, warning that the territory is becoming “a graveyard for the living and the dead” due to Israel’s policies.
The international NGO Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF – Doctors Without Borders) recently warned that the Gaza Strip risks becoming a mass grave, not only for its residents but also for those trying to help them.
While the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has begun advisory proceedings on Israel’s obligations as an occupying power to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza, MSF said that such legal steps will take time that the Palestinians do not have.
“Waiting for legal mechanisms to take effect amid Israel’s deliberate policy of strangling aid access will condemn countless people to death, and these deaths are preventable,” said Claire Nicolet, head of emergencies at MSF, in a statement to the Weekly in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
“Meanwhile, the world watches on in silence as this indiscriminate horror unfolds.”
Nicolet described the situation in Gaza as catastrophic on every level. “Since 2 March, the Israeli-imposed total ban on aid and humanitarian supplies has had deadly consequences for civilians and crippled the ability of humanitarian and medical personnel to mount any meaningful response,” she said.
She accused the Israeli authorities of weaponising aid. “They’re not just using aid as a bargaining chip – they are using it as a weapon of war and a tool of collective punishment against more than two million people living in the Gaza Strip,” she added.
Nicolet called on governments worldwide to intensify the pressure on Israel to lift the blockade and allow unhindered aid access to Gaza to prevent further suffering and loss of life.
She added that MSF teams and other humanitarian actors inside Gaza are facing daily operational dilemmas in an increasingly volatile and unpredictable environment.
“Teams are being relocated from one area to another without any guarantee of safety from the Israeli military despite prior notifications. How can we expand our activities when no medical or fuel supplies are allowed in, and our equipment and critical infrastructure are under constant bombardment,” she asked.
BRINK OF COLLAPSE: The World Health Organisation (WHO) has issued an urgent warning that Gaza’s healthcare system is teetering on the brink of collapse, as the continued Israeli blockade prevents life-saving humanitarian aid and medical supplies from reaching the besieged population.
Doctors are now forced to treat patients in hospital corridors, leading to increased mortality rates as more civilians, particularly children, suffer from severe malnutrition and deteriorating conditions.
“We are very, very close to the edge,” said WHO Spokesperson Margaret Harris, describing the health situation in Gaza as catastrophic. She cautioned that health risks continue to rise due to the near-total lack of incoming aid and medical essentials for nearly two months.
Harris stated that Palestinians in Gaza have been stripped of the most basic necessities, such as food, clean water, shelter, and access to medical care. Many, she said, are afraid to even approach hospitals that have repeatedly come under Israeli attack.
“Doctors and nurses are working without the supplies they need to save lives,” Harris said, listing critical shortages including blood bags, IV fluids, cotton swabs for cleaning wounds, and antibiotics to prevent deadly infections.
“The wounded come in with injuries that are highly susceptible to infection, including open wounds and bone fractures from bombardments.”
Harris noted that the people of Gaza are now living in extremely overcrowded conditions and are suffering from hunger, dehydration, and poor sanitation, all factors that accelerate the spread of infectious diseases.
“There is a growing outbreak of diarrhoea and other illnesses due to the lack of clean water,” she said.
She added that the 21 functioning hospitals and four field hospitals inside Gaza lack the capacity to meet the enormous needs. Hospitals are so overwhelmed that patients are often discharged before they fully recover to make room for new casualties.
“When there are no beds available, patients are treated in corridors, which only increases the death toll,” she said.
Meanwhile, international rights group Amnesty International’s Secretary-General Agnès Callamard has called on international actors, particularly the European Union, to take decisive steps to halt what she described as a genocide being perpetrated by Israel against the Palestinians in Gaza through both military force and starvation tactics that have rendered the territory “completely devoid of food.”
In a press statement on Monday, Callamard urged governments to pressure Israel into allowing the entry of food, water, and medicine into Gaza and to hold those responsible for war crimes and crimes of genocide accountable.
Speaking from direct observation and monitoring of the ongoing 19-month conflict, she warned that conditions in Gaza have drastically worsened since Israel re-imposed a complete blockade on the Strip on 2 March.
She said that the alarm has been sounded by nearly every humanitarian organisation operating in the region. “People are suffering from a critical lack of food, clean water, and medicine. There is no food left in Gaza,” she said, echoing reports from the UN World Food Programme and the WHO.
Callamard repeated the phrase “there is no food left in Gaza” to underscore the dire situation and described the conditions across the enclave as “utterly horrifying.”
“This is genocide unfolding in front of the entire world,” she said.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 8 May, 2025 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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