Hundreds of Palestinian families, clutching what little they could carry, streamed along Gaza’s battered Al Rashid Road on September 26, 2025, seeking any semblance of safety as Israeli airstrikes and ground operations intensified. Their flight, marked by desperation and exhaustion, unfolded amid a catastrophic shortage of transportation and surging travel costs, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). For many, the only option was to walk, sometimes for miles, through the war-torn enclave as bombardments continued overhead.
The latest Israeli military escalation has left Gaza City reeling. OCHA reported that strikes on tents, residential buildings, and critical infrastructure have inflicted heavy civilian casualties. In just a 48-hour period between September 19 and 20, at least 51 Palestinians—almost all civilians—were killed in 18 separate attacks on residential buildings in the city, the UN human rights office confirmed. The violence has forced “additional waves of displacement,” OCHA stressed, as new evacuation orders and relentless bombardment leave families with nowhere safe to turn.
Conditions in southern Gaza, where many have fled, are little better. Displaced families are squeezed into makeshift tents along the beach, packed into overcrowded schools, or sleeping in the open atop rubble. UN aid teams described scenes of Gazans sleeping on rubble-strewn ground, with basic services stretched “beyond capacity.” Community kitchens and health facilities have shuttered under the pressure, and the closure of the Zikim crossing on September 12 has choked off aid deliveries to northern Gaza. “Since then, no aid has been collected in northern Gaza,” OCHA said, forcing those still there to rely on dwindling supplies brought from the south through heavily congested and dangerous routes.
The food crisis has reached a breaking point. In the north, a two-kilogram bundle of bread now costs more than $9, a staggering increase from the 30 cents it cost at UN-supported bakeries earlier this year. The closure of community kitchens has slashed the number of free meals from 109,000 to just 59,000 daily, leaving tens of thousands hungry. Tragically, the search for food has itself become deadly: on September 26, medical sources told Al Jazeera that 16 Palestinians were killed while trying to receive aid.
The human toll continues to mount. In the week leading up to September 24, Gaza authorities reported 357 Palestinians killed and 1,463 wounded. Since the start of the conflict on October 7, 2023, more than 65,400 have been killed and 167,160 injured, according to Gaza’s health ministry. The number of casualties among those trying to access aid supplies has also soared, with 2,531 fatalities and over 18,531 injuries reported since late May 2025. Malnutrition is claiming more lives, too: by September 19, 440 malnutrition-related deaths—including 147 children—had been documented since the war began.
The suffering is not limited to Gaza’s north. On September 25, Israeli strikes hit houses and tents in central and southern Gaza, killing 17 people, including 10 children and three women, local health officials told the Associated Press. In Zawaida, a strike killed at least 12 people—among them a couple and five of their children. Another attack in Deir al-Balah killed a girl and wounded seven others, while in Khan Younis, a man, his pregnant wife, their 10-year-old child, and another female relative were killed.
International outcry is growing. At the United Nations General Assembly in New York, French President Emmanuel Macron declared, “Total war in Gaza is causing civilian casualties but can't bring about the end of Hamas. Factually, it's a failure.” Macron added that France had recognized a Palestinian state “on the conviction it is the only way to isolate Hamas.” He warned that Israeli annexation of the occupied West Bank would cross a “red line” for both France and the United States, though the White House has not formally responded.
On the diplomatic front, the United Arab Emirates’ Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan was expected to warn Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that annexation plans threaten the Abraham Accords, according to Israel’s Channel 12. An Emirati source told the network that such moves “risk jeopardising the historic normalisation deal.” Meanwhile, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian expressed support for any ceasefire that could halt the suffering in Gaza, saying, “Any agreement that can stop this tragedy, that can save lives and stop women and children suffering from hunger, we would support wholeheartedly.”
The crisis has also spilled beyond Gaza’s borders. On September 25, the Israeli military carried out strikes in Yemen, targeting Houthi military and intelligence facilities after a Houthi drone attack wounded 22 people in Eilat. The Houthi Health Ministry reported two deaths and dozens wounded, including children, as rescue teams continued searching the rubble in Sanaa.
Inside Gaza, the health system is collapsing. The closure of clinics and community kitchens, combined with the blockade, has left thousands without access to medical care or basic nutrition. On September 26, a 17-year-old Palestinian died of starvation, doctors at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital told Al Jazeera, underscoring the growing threat of famine. “They’ve been bombed, maimed, starved, burned alive, buried in the rubble of their homes, separated from their parents…scraping through the rubble for food, enduring amputations without anaesthetic,” said Tom Fletcher, the UN’s top aid official, at a UN General Assembly event.
Despite the mounting humanitarian crisis, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a defiant address to the UN on September 26. He ruled out Palestinian statehood, stating, “Israel will not allow you to shove a terrorist state down our throats. We will not commit national suicide because you don't have the guts to face down the hostile media and antisemitic mobs demanding Israel's blood.” Netanyahu also denied accusations of genocide and starvation tactics, insisting that Israel was actually feeding the people of Gaza. His stance drew sharp criticism from the families of Israeli hostages held in Gaza, who argued that ongoing military action endangered their loved ones.
The international community is struggling to respond. Donor countries, including Saudi Arabia, Germany, and Spain, recently pledged at least $170 million to help the Palestinian Authority maintain government services as Israel withholds tax revenues. However, the PA says it needs far more to avoid fiscal collapse. The UN, meanwhile, has called for the immediate implementation of International Court of Justice provisional measures requiring Israel to facilitate urgent humanitarian assistance throughout Gaza.
As the conflict grinds on, the people of Gaza face a grim reality: relentless violence, deepening hunger, and dwindling hope for a political solution. The world watches, but for many inside the enclave, survival remains the only goal for another day.
