What to Know About Aid Access to Gaza

More than 2 million Palestinians face severe shortages as Gaza’s aid system collapses. Here’s how it unraveled and what’s happening diplomatically.

Displaced Palestinian children push into a queue to get a portion of cooked food from a charity kitchen in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip on March 9, 2025. Omar al-Qattaa/ AFP via Getty Images

Twenty-one months into the Israeli offensive launched after the Oct. 7 attack by terrorist group Hamas, the situation on the ground in Gaza has become one of the most complex and contested crises.

International organizations warn of looming famine, limited access to clean water, failing hospitals, and displacement affecting 90 percent of the population.