Gaza Crisis: NGO Warns of Catastrophic Conditions Amid Ongoing Airstrikes

Ten people were killed in an airstrike in central Gaza on April 7, 2026. The incident occurred despite a fragile ceasefire that was established in October 2025.

Elsa Softic, the deputy chief operations officer at Première Urgence Internationale, an international NGO, told France 24 that the current situation for Palestinians in both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank remains catastrophic. Softic stated that the parties involved don’t share the same definition of ceasefire.

The strike comes as international attention has shifted toward the conflict in and around Iran, leaving millions of Palestinians in need of basic assistance for survival.

Humanitarian Crisis and Food Insecurity

The United Nations agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) warned on August 9, 2025, that the Gaza Strip was facing a catastrophic humanitarian crisis. The agency reported that for more than 150 days leading up to that date, not a single UNRWA truck had been permitted to deliver food, medicine, or other essentials into Gaza.

Acute food insecurity has led to a rise in malnutrition deaths. UN data indicated that 193 people, including 96 children, died from malnutrition since the start of August 2025. July 2025 recorded the highest monthly rate of acute malnutrition in children under five.

Economic instability has further limited access to food. Wheat flour prices increased by up to 15,000 per cent compared to levels recorded before the war.

Additional data from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) highlighted that the provision of cooked meals in northern Gaza dropped by 70 per cent, with only eight kitchens remaining operational. An assessment by water, sanitation, and hygiene partners found that one million people were accessing less than the emergency minimum of six litres of drinking water per day.

Collapse of Health Services

Health services in the region are nearing total collapse. By August 2025, UNRWA reported that more than half of essential medical supplies were out of stock, and hospitals were forced to ration fuel for their generators.

The neonatal unit at Nasser hospital has operated under catastrophic conditions. Dr. Hatem Duhair, the head of the unit, reported that while the facility was designed to accommodate 17 infants, it was caring for 26, with expectations that the number would increase.

Aid Blockades and Displacement

The UN and its partners have faced ongoing physical and bureaucratic impediments to providing lifesaving assistance. In May 2025, the UN warned of a deepening crisis as Israeli authorities maintained a near-total blockade on aid delivery for nine consecutive weeks.

The UN Humanitarian Country Team condemned efforts to dismantle the existing aid system. The UN stated that Israeli authorities proposed a new distribution system that would funnel supplies through military-controlled hubs rather than allowing NGOs and UN agencies to operate independently.

The UN warned that this proposal would force civilians into militarised zones to collect rations and leave the most vulnerable people without aid, potentially exacerbating forced displacement across the strip.

Casualties and Scale of Conflict

According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, cited by the UN in August 2025, at least 61,158 Palestinians were killed and more than 151,000 were injured since October 2023. These figures resulted from ground operations and bombardment.

UNRWA reported that nearly 350 of its own staff members were among the dead since the start of the military operation in Gaza following the Hamas-led attacks on October 7, 2023. Civilians have frequently been killed while queuing for food or sheltering in tents and schools.

The International Rescue Committee noted on October 23, 2025, that more than two years of war had left Gaza in ruin due to ground-level fighting and airstrikes.