With aid cut off since 2 March, Gaza faces its worst humanitarian crisis in over 18 months of war

It’s been over a month since a single aid truck crossed into Gaza. For 22-year-old Mohammed, the silence has been deafening — and deadly.

Once a glimmer of hope, a brief February ceasefire allowed him and half a million others to return to northern Gaza. Now, two months later, he says there’s nothing left. “If this war ever ends, I have nowhere left to live,” he told Euronews. “It is now all rubble — unliveable.”

Life in Gaza has spiralled further into desperation. Since 2 March, no food, water, medicine, or commercial goods have entered the Strip, following Israel’s renewed military campaign and full blockade aimed at pressuring Hamas to release the remaining hostages from the group’s 7 October 2023 attack.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) now calls the situation “likely the worst it has been” since hostilities began a year and a half ago. UNICEF warns that hunger, disease, and preventable child deaths are mounting fast.

Mohammed’s journey reflects the trauma now familiar to hundreds of thousands. Displaced four times before the ceasefire, he made his way home via the Netzarim corridor in February, finding his family’s house shattered but barely standing.

“We were living on a miracle,” he said, recalling how they endured cold nights, clinging to what little remained.

That miracle ended on 20 March — the 20th day of Ramadan. As his family prepared a pre-dawn meal, a strike hit their home. “It was shocking because it came all of a sudden,” he said. The Israeli military used a tactic known as “roof knocking,” where a small warning missile precedes a full strike. Israel defends the method as a civilian warning tool, but critics, including Amnesty International, argue it devastates families without genuine military necessity.

After the bombing, Mohammed’s family slept outdoors for two weeks. “Only now, with severe difficulty, I managed to get a tent — and even that doesn’t belong to me,” he said. The shelter sits in a camp that recently came under fire. “A strike hit just five tents away from us,” he added.

With markets empty and prices soaring, his family survives on about one kilogram of rice a day, shared among seven people, including four young children. Photos show his niece and nephews crouched on the ground, spooning rice from a single bowl.

UNICEF estimates that nearly 10,000 infants under six months are not exclusively breastfed, and baby formula is available for only 400 of them. Aid agencies warn of a coming surge in child malnutrition and preventable deaths.

Yet, despite the humanitarian collapse, aid remains stalled. Israeli authorities argue the blockade is necessary to deprive Hamas of resources and force a hostage deal. However, for humanitarian leaders like UNICEF’s Edouard Beigbeder, the cost is too high.

“Aid must be allowed into Gaza — no matter what,” he said.

For now, people like Mohammed are stuck in limbo. With no home, no aid, and no clear end to the war, he’s just trying to keep his family alive one day at a time.

“We don’t even know if we’ll survive the night,” he said.