Heavy casualties continue in Gaza City due to intensified strikes on residential areas and infrastructure, stated the UN aid coordination agency, OCHA.
The UN agency’s update highlighted that several health facilities and community kitchens have closed in Gaza City, in the northern part of the enclave, amid ongoing Israeli military operations.
This follows a dire warning on the war’s devastating effects on Gaza’s children, – “killed while sleeping, playing, queuing for food and water, seeking medical care” – from Tom Fletcher, the UN’s lead aid official.
“Children have suffered bombings, starvation, burns, entrapment under rubble, separation from parents…foraging in debris for food, undergoing amputations without anesthesia,” Fletcher expressed at a UN General Assembly side event in New York.
To mitigate this crisis, the International Court of Justice (ICJ)’s provisional measures, demanding Israel to expedite aid throughout Gaza, should be enforced, Fletcher emphasized, noting Israeli children casualties from Hamas-led attacks on October 7, 2023.
Highlighted UN updates from Gaza:
- Reported attacks last week included the death of a four-year-old boy and a five-year-old girl when their tent was hit in Al Mawasi, Khan Younis, according to OCHA.
- Amid widespread famine, a two-kilogram loaf of bread now costs over $9, compared to 30 cents at UN-supported bakeries in early 2025.
- From 94 coordinated aid mission attempts across Gaza Strip till 23 September, only 35 were successful.
- No aid has reached northern Gaza since the Zikim crossing closure on 12 September, compelling aid partners to transport supplies from the south despite heavy traffic and security issues.
- This week, 50,000 daily meals in northern Gaza are reduced from 109,000 meals the previous weekend, due to community kitchen closures as military action intensifies in Gaza City.
- Families in southern Gaza are “crowded into makeshift seaside tents” or crammed into overcrowded schools, with some sleeping amidst rubble under an overwhelmed service infrastructure.
- Fighting continues between Palestinian groups and Israeli forces in Gaza City, with rocket fire reported from Palestinian groups into Israel on 21 September.
- Israeli airstrikes on residential shelters holding displaced individuals have resumed, with controlled detonation reports.
- Between 19 and 20 September, 51 Palestinians were killed in 18 strikes on residential buildings in Gaza City; most were civilians, the UN human rights office reported.
- OCHA noted “additional displacement waves” particularly from Gaza City due to Israel’s evacuation orders, military operations, and bombardment.
- The Allenby Bridge crossing for aid from Jordan via the occupied West Bank stays closed after a Jordanian driver killed two Israeli soldiers.
- In August, approximately 25% of relief supplies to Gaza through the UN 2720 mechanism came via Jordan, including essential supplies like food and tents.
Recent Gaza authorities’ data reveal that in the week ending 24 September, 357 Palestinians were killed and 1,463 injured. Since October 7, 2023, over 65,400 have perished in Gaza, with 167,160 injured, as per the health ministry.
Aid access casualties have risen, totaling 2,531 deaths and over 18,531 injuries since 27 May 2025,
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