Gaza also bears the cost of the war on Iran; Israel closes crossings as food supplies dwindle

Brussels – Despite commitments made under the Gaza peace agreement, Israel has closed all entry points to the Strip for more than 72 hours, imposing a blockade on supplies that risks starving two million people once again. “The impact is immediate, there are no surpluses,” international NGO World Central Kitchen warned, saying that it plans to temporarily suspend food distribution. Today (3 March), the southern crossing at Kerem Shalom could reopen.

 Gaza also pays the price for the war launched by Israel and the United States against Iran: Tel Aviv deemed it necessary “for security reasons” to close the border crossings with Gaza after the start of the military operation on Saturday 28 February, which killed the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, Ali Khamenei, and triggered reprisals by Tehran throughout the Middle East. Amid the general indifference of a world panicking over the escalation in the region, only the United Nations had called for the reopening of the crossings “as soon as possible” since they are not only the entry point for humanitarian aid but also the exit route for critically ill patients who need to be evacuated from the Strip.

In a statement yesterday, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini denounced “a new chokehold on Gaza” and stressed that the people “still lack the most basic supplies” after “two years of unspeakable suffering and a man-made famine that is spreading”. World Central Kitchen, which until last week was cooking an average of one million hot meals a day in Gaza, also sounded the alarm: “Food in Gaza depends entirely on daily shipments. What arrives today feeds people tomorrow. There is no surplus sitting in warehouses. There is no reserve to draw from. If food is not entering every single day, it simply runs out,” said the humanitarian NGO, which expects to run out of supplies by tomorrow at the latest.

“Until recently, we were operating with a seven-day working inventory at our current production rate. That buffer had already been reduced to just two days due to inconsistent truck flow from Egypt, which represents the largest share of our supply chain. Now, with further border disruptions, there will be no food to cook,” World Central Kitchen added. 

A nightmare returning after last summer’s famine caused by Israel’s total siege of Gaza and the intermittent or, at best, trickle of aid allowed in for two years. According to the UN, at least 463 people, including 157 children, starved to death in the Strip between 1 November 2024 and 31 October 2025. In addition, hundreds of civilians were deliberately killed during food distributions by the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. 

According to an announcement by COGAT, the Israeli Defence Ministry body responsible for Palestinian civil affairs, the southern Kerem Shalom crossing on the border between Gaza, Israel, and Egypt is expected to reopen today (3 March) to allow “the gradual entry of humanitarian aid.” The decision was taken “in accordance with an assessment of the security situation.”