OCHA: Hostilities imperil civilians and aid response in Gaza

9 April 2025

OCHA reports that hostilities across the Gaza Strip continue to exact a devastating toll on civilians, causing further death, displacement and destruction of critical infrastructure.

Thousands of families are on the move once again, fleeing bombardment, shelling and repeated displacement orders issued by the Israeli military. However, as OCHA has warned repeatedly, there is no safe place in Gaza.

OCHA stresses that civilians must be protected, whether they leave or stay. Those fleeing fighting must be allowed to do so safely, and they must be able to voluntarily return when the situation allows.

Meanwhile, OCHA reports that humanitarian operations remain severely constrained. This is due to the expansion of military operations, as well as the ongoing blockade of humanitarian aid and commercial goods, which has lasted for more than five weeks. There have also been deadly attacks on aid workers and humanitarian facilities.

OCHA reports that humanitarians continue to face extreme movement restrictions within Gaza. Just since yesterday, the Israeli authorities denied eight of 14 attempts by UN aid workers to coordinate access to people in need of urgent assistance.

Overall, since the intensification of hostilities on 18 March, the Israeli authorities have denied 68 per cent of the UN’s 170 attempts to coordinate access to reach people across the Gaza Strip and assist them.

They also continue to reject all attempts to pick up supplies that were brought into Gaza and dropped at the crossings prior to the cargo closure on 2 March.

OCHA underscores that these denials prevent humanitarians from carrying out critical and life-saving missions.

Despite the increasingly challenging conditions, the UN and its humanitarian partners remain committed to staying and delivering. With what limited resources remain inside Gaza, they continue to serve those most in need and are actively advocating for the reopening of crossings to allow sustained humanitarian operations.

Today, protection partners report that they have resumed services in northern Gaza, focusing on urgent case management, psychological first aid and psychosocial support for traumatized communities.

Protection monitoring teams from the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) have identified severe protection risks in shelters hosting displaced people in northern Gaza, including extreme overcrowding, and acute shortages of food, water and hygiene supplies.

Physical hazards such as rubble, debris and broken glass were observed in 75 per cent of the shelters surveyed – posing further risks to displaced families, especially children and older people.