UN aid agencies warn of a humanitarian crisis in Gaza as only two crossings are open and deliveries remain limited despite a ceasefire that began on October 10. The WFP has distributed food parcels to over one million people but says access and volumes are still insufficient, particularly to northern Gaza where famine conditions were confirmed in August. Between October 10–31, 3,203 trucks entered Gaza — about 145 per day, or 24% of the 600 trucks a day called for by the ceasefire deal. Aid groups urge full access and open roads to prevent conditions from deteriorating further as winter approaches.
Race Against Time: Gaza Faces Severe Hunger as Aid Remains Restricted Despite Ceasefire
UN aid agencies warn of a humanitarian crisis in Gaza as only two crossings are open and deliveries remain limited despite a ceasefire that began on October 10. The WFP has distributed food parcels to over one million people but says access and volumes are still insufficient, particularly to northern Gaza where famine conditions were confirmed in August. Between October 10–31, 3,203 trucks entered Gaza — about 145 per day, or 24% of the 600 trucks a day called for by the ceasefire deal. Aid groups urge full access and open roads to prevent conditions from deteriorating further as winter approaches.
02:57, 05.11.2025Conflict
Race Against Time: Gaza Faces Severe Hunger
A United Nations official warned that aid agencies are in a "race against time" to deliver food and other humanitarian supplies into the Gaza Strip, as continuing Israeli restrictions and closed crossings slow shipments into the heavily bombarded territory.
At a news briefing on Tuesday, Abeer Etefa, a senior spokesperson for the UN World Food Programme (WFP), said deliveries have increased since the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect on October 10, but access remains severely constrained.
Only two crossings into Gaza are open, which Etefa said "severely limits the quantity of aid" that the WFP and other organizations can bring in. The WFP currently operates 44 food distribution points across Gaza and has provided food parcels to more than one million Palestinians since the ceasefire began.
"We need full access. We need everything to be moving fast. We are in a race against time. The winter months are coming. People are still suffering from hunger, and the needs are overwhelming," Etefa said.
Despite the increase in deliveries, Etefa said the total volume of food entering Gaza is still insufficient. Reaching northern Gaza — where the world's leading hunger monitor confirmed famine conditions in August — remains particularly difficult because northern crossings remain closed. Aid convoys are forced to follow a slow and challenging southern route to reach communities in the north.
"To deliver at scale, WFP needs all crossings to be open, especially those in the north. Full access to key roads across Gaza is also critical to allow food to be transported quickly and efficiently to where it is needed," she added.
Thousands of Palestinians have returned to northern neighbourhoods in recent weeks after the Israeli military withdrew to the so-called "yellow line" under the ceasefire. Many returnees, however, found their homes and neighbourhoods destroyed after two years of bombardment and now live in tents or improvised shelters.
One returnee, Khalid al-Dahdouh, a father of five, told Al Jazeera he returned to Gaza City to find his home in ruins and has built a small shelter from salvaged bricks and mud. "We tried to rebuild because winter is coming," he said. "We don't have tents or anything else, so we built a primitive structure out of mud since there is no cement … It protects us from the cold, insects and rain — unlike the tents."
The UN and other humanitarian organizations have repeatedly urged Israeli authorities to permit the flow of supplies outlined in the ceasefire agreement, warning that conditions will worsen as colder weather approaches.
Gaza's Government Media Office reported that 3,203 commercial and aid trucks entered Gaza between October 10 and 31 — an average of 145 trucks per day, or roughly 24% of the 600 trucks per day envisioned by the agreement.
At the same time, the Israeli military has continued operations that include strikes and demolitions. On Tuesday, an Israeli quadcopter opened fire in the Tuffah neighbourhood east of Gaza City, killing one person and wounding another, and a source at al-Ahli Arab Hospital reported a person was killed by Israeli army fire in Jabalia in northern Gaza.
Since the ceasefire took effect, Gaza's Ministry of Health reported at least 240 Palestinians killed and 607 wounded in Israeli attacks. Israeli officials have rejected criticism of the strikes and restrictions on aid, accusing Hamas of breaching the deal by not returning all the bodies of Israeli captives. On Tuesday, Israel said it had received the remains of an Israeli captive after Hamas handed them to the International Committee of the Red Cross.
The WFP and other agencies warn that without rapid, expanded access — especially to northern Gaza and key roads across the Strip — humanitarian relief will fall short of needs as winter approaches and hunger deepens.