UN chief says Gaza war in 'cruelest phase' as aid trucks looted

By AFP - May 24,2025 - Last updated at May 24,2025

A Palestinian boy stands outside a destroyed house that was targeted in an Israeli strike at the Nuseirat camp for refugees in the central Gaza Strip on May 24, 2025 (AFP photo)

Gaza City, Palestinian Territories — The United Nations chief said Friday that Palestinians were enduring "the cruelest phase" of the war in Gaza, where more than a dozen food trucks were looted following the partial easing of a lengthy Israeli blockade.

Aid was just beginning to trickle back into the war-torn territory after Israel announced it would allow limited shipments to resume as it pressed a newly expanded offensive aimed at destroying Hamas.

Gaza's civil defence agency reported at least 16 people killed in "Israeli strikes in various areas across" the territory on Friday.

Agency official Mohammed Al Mughayyir told AFP the attacks had also wounded dozens of people.

UN chief Antonio Guterres said "Palestinians in Gaza are enduring what may be the cruelest phase of this cruel conflict", adding that Israel "must agree to allow and facilitate" humanitarian deliveries.

He pointed to snags, however, noting that of the nearly 400 trucks cleared to enter Gaza in recent days, only 115 were able to be collected.

"In any case, all the aid authorised until now amounts to a teaspoon of aid when a flood of assistance is required," he added in a statement.

"Meanwhile, the Israeli military offensive is intensifying with atrocious levels of death and destruction," he said.

In a statement, the World Food Programme said Friday that 15 of its "trucks were looted late last night in southern Gaza, while en route to WFP-supported bakeries".

"Hunger, desperation, and anxiety over whether more food aid is coming, is contributing to rising insecurity," the UN body said, calling on Israeli authorities "to get far greater volumes of food assistance into Gaza faster".

Aid shipments to the Gaza Strip restarted on Monday for the first time since March 2, amid mounting condemnation of the Israeli blockade, which has sparked severe shortages of food and medicine.

‘No one should be surprised'

COGAT, the Israeli defence ministry body that oversees civilian affairs in the Palestinian territories, said that 107 humanitarian aid trucks entered Gaza on Thursday.

But Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said Friday that the UN had brought in 500 to 600 per day on average during a six-week ceasefire that broke down in March.

"No one should be surprised let alone shocked at scenes of precious aid looted, stolen or 'lost'," he said on X, adding that "the people of Gaza have been starved" for more than 11 weeks.

In Gaza's north, Al Awda hospital reported Friday that three of its staff were injured "after Israeli quadcopter drones dropped bombs" on the facility.

An AFP journalist saw large plumes of smoke billowing above destroyed buildings in southern Gaza after Israeli bombardments.

Israel resumed operations in Gaza on March 18, ending the ceasefire that began on January 19.

On Friday, Gaza's health ministry said at least 3,673 people had been killed in the territory since then, taking the war's overall toll to 53,822, mostly civilians.

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