JERUSALEM (AP) -- The United Nations' emergency relief coordinator urged Israel on Thursday to lift its blockade of aid into the Gaza Strip, saying the halting of humanitarian aid amounts to "cruel collective punishment."
Israel has blocked any humanitarian aid from entering the territory since the end of a ceasefire in March, throwing Gaza into what is believed to be the worst humanitarian crisis in nearly 19 months of war. Israel has said the blockade and its renewed military campaign are intended to pressure Hamas to release the remaining hostages it still holds and to disarm.
The war began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251. Hamas is still holding 59 hostages, 24 of whom are believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.
As Israel continued its strikes on the Palestinian enclave, another 18 people were killed and dozens more were wounded, Gaza's Health Ministry said.
Tom Fletcher, the U.N. under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, said Thursday that while the hostages should be released and should never have been taken in the first place, international law mandates that Israel allow humanitarian aid into Gaza.
"Aid, and the civilian lives it saves, should never be a bargaining chip," he said in a statement. "Blocking aid starves civilians. It leaves them without basic medical support. It strips them of dignity and hope. It inflicts a cruel collective punishment. Blocking aid kills."
The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA, has described severe shortages of food, water and medicine in Gaza as medical services collapse and charity kitchens shut down because of a lack of supplies. Hospitals have reported that cases of malnourished pregnant and breastfeeding women are rising sharply, and most newborns are now being born underweight.
Fletcher stressed that "the humanitarian movement is independent, impartial and neutral. We believe that all civilians are equally worthy of protection."
He said that a recent proposal by Israeli authorities regarding ways to distribute aid "does not meet the minimum bar for principled humanitarian support." Israel has proposed taking over aid distribution in Gaza or using private companies for the distribution.
The United Kingdom joined calls for aid to be allowed into Gaza.
"The healthcare system in Gaza is near collapse," the U.K. Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office posted on X. "Aid supplies must be allowed in, medical workers protected, and the sick and wounded allowed to temporarily leave Gaza for treatment."
Israeli strikes in Gaza killed more than two dozen people from Wednesday afternoon into Thursday, bringing the overall death toll since the war started to more than 52,400 people, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza. More than 2,300 of the deaths have occurred since the ceasefire collapsed on March 18, it said.
The ministry doesn't differentiate between civilians and militant deaths, but says more than half the dead have been women and children. Israel says it has killed more than 20,000 militants, without providing details on those deaths.
On Thursday afternoon, the ministry said the bodies of 18 people and 77 wounded people had arrived at hospitals in the past 24 hours.
The bodies of another eight people -- including three children and three women -- arrived at Nasser Hospital in the city of Khan Younis, the hospital said later Thursday.
