Summary
We are now closing the blog. Here is a summary of events today
UN Secretary General António Guterres on Friday said, “Palestinians in Gaza are enduring what may be the cruellest phase of this cruel conflict” as Israel ramps up its military offensive. He said authorised aid for Gaza amounts to “a teaspoon” when “a flood of assistance is required”.
Guterres said “the entire population of Gaza is facing the risk of famine”. He added: “The Israeli military offensive is intensifying with atrocious levels of death and destruction.”
Israel says about 300 trucks of aid have entered Gaza via the Kerem Shalom crossing since it lifted an 11-week blockade on Gaza on Monday, but Guterres said that so far only about a third of those truckloads have been transported from the crossing to warehouses within Gaza due to insecurity, Reuters reports.
At least 60 people were killed by Israeli strikes across Gaza in a 24-hour period, Gaza’s health ministry said Friday. The dead included 10 people in the southern city of Khan Younis, four in the central town of Deir al-Balah and nine in the Jabaliya refugee camp in the north, according to the Nasser, Al-Aqsa and Al-Ahli hospitals where the bodies were brought, the Associated Press reports.
Northern Gaza’s al-Awda hospital reported on Friday that three of its staff were injured “after Israeli quadcopter drones dropped bombs” on the facility.
More than 50 Palestinian civilians were missing under rubble after an Israeli aerial attack on a residential building in northern Gaza, the territory’s civil defence spokesperson, Mahmoud Basal, said on Friday. Civil defence crews described the scene as a “horrific massacre”.
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has accused Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron and Mark Carney of “emboldening Hamas” after the UK, French and Canadian leaders called for a halt to Israel’s expanded assault on Gaza and for an end to restrictions on humanitarian aid into the territory.
Unicef has said more than 9,000 children have been treated for malnutrition in Gaza this year, and it is estimated that tens of thousands of cases are expected in the coming year.
In a post on X, the World Health Organization (WHO) said that Israel’s assault on Gaza is pushing the health system there “to collapse”. It cited these figures including at least 94% of all hospitals in the Gaza Strip are damaged or destroyed.
According to the UN’s latest situation update (published on 21 May 2025), about 29% of Gaza’s population have been displaced again in the past month, including more than 161,000 people displaced in one week.
Cindy McCain, the executive director of the UN’s World Food Programme, has expressed a cautious sense of “hope” as she confirmed that a “handful” of bakeries are back in operation after the Israeli aid blockade on Gaza was eased to a bare minimum level.
UN chief denounces 'cruellest phase' of Gaza conflict
The UN secretary general, António Guterres, said on Friday that Palestinians in Gaza are “enduring what may be the cruellest phase of this cruel conflict” as Israel ramps up its military offensive.
“For nearly 80 days, Israel blocked the entry of life-saving international aid,” he said in a statement, Agence France-Presse reports.
“The entire population of Gaza is facing the risk of famine.
“The Israeli military offensive is intensifying with atrocious levels of death and destruction.”
Guterres said the aid authorised by Israel to enter Gaza “amounts to a teaspoon of aid when a flood of assistance is required”, Reuters reports.
Israel says about 300 trucks of aid have entered Gaza via the Kerem Shalom crossing since it lifted an 11-week blockade on Gaza on Monday, but Guterres said that so far only about a third of those truckloads have been transported from the crossing to warehouses within Gaza due to insecurity.
He said:
Without rapid, reliable, safe and sustained aid access, more people will die - and the long-term consequences on the entire population will be profound.
He added:
The United Nations has been clear: We will not take part in any scheme that fails to respect international law and the humanitarian principles of humanity, impartiality, independence and neutrality.
The supplies - 160,000 pallets, enough to fill nearly 9,000 trucks - are waiting. This is my appeal for life-saving aid for the long-suffering people of Gaza: Let’s do it right. And let’s do it right away.
Updated
