Israel continues to block aid deliveries into Gaza: UNRWA

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said on Thursday that Israel has continued to block its humanitarian aid from entering Gaza since March 2025, leaving critical supplies stranded in neighbouring countries.

The UNRWA said that its humanitarian shipments, including food, hygiene kits, medicines and shelter items, have remained stored in warehouses in Egypt and Jordan for months and have not been allowed into Gaza.

“UNRWA’s humanitarian supplies, food, hygiene kits, medicines and shelter items remain stuck in warehouses in Egypt and Jordan, banned from entering Gaza since March 2025,” the agency said on X.

“Life-saving aid is ready to move. There is no time to lose,” it added.

Occupied East Jerusalem

Israel banned UNRWA’s operations in occupied East Jerusalem at the end of 2024 and has imposed mounting restrictions on the agency.

Israel has cut water and electricity supplies to the headquarters of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) in occupied East Jerusalem, according to Israel’s energy minister Eli Cohen.

Cohen said he personally oversaw the disconnection of utilities at the UNRWA compound, confirming that both electricity and water services had been shut off.

“By word and by deed, I have closed the tap on UNRWA,” he said in a post on X on Wednesday evening.

Cohen earlier told an Israeli radio station that he was heading to East Jerusalem to personally witness the cutoff of water and electricity to UNRWA facilities.

“There is no place for UNRWA in the State of Israel,” Cohen said.

Israeli forces have also carried out daily air strikes across Gaza in violation of the October ceasefire, killing 574 Palestinians and wounding 1,518 others, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

Israel’s genocide in Gaza has killed nearly 72,000 Palestinians and wounded more than 171,000, most of them women and children, and destroyed roughly 90 percent of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure.