Israel has made some efforts towards improving the delivery of humanitarian aid to the population in Gaza, but the situation remains dire, a European Commission spokesperson said on Thursday.
He added that the EU is currently assessing the situation and that all options remain on the table if Israel does not deliver on an agreement made with the EU earlier this month about improving the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
This agreement includes a substantial increase in the number of daily trucks for food and non-food items to enter Gaza, the opening of several other crossing points in both the northern and southern areas, and the reopening of the Jordanian and Egyptian aid routes.
This comes amid worldwide media coverage, based on Hamas's Health Ministry reports, claiming that troves of Palestinians have died in the last 24 hours and that 600,000 people in Gaza – nearly one third of the population – are suffering from malnutrition.
Israel has pointed at the United Nations and Hamas for withholding aid to Gaza, with claims amped up in recent days.
The United Nations claims that over 1,000 people have been killed at the hands of the IDF while seeking aid at different Gaza Humanitarian Fund (GHF) distribution centers.
GHF's purpose
GHF was created in February 2025 to replace UN-supported efforts to distribute aid. The organization, which is backed by both Israel and the United States, has come under scrutiny for distribution tactics by the international community, including over 150 NGOs such as Save the Children and Oxfam.
The IDF has countered criticism of aid distribution and blamed the UN and other aid groups, claiming that a record 950 aid trucks are sitting on the Gaza side of the border, failing to bring aid to the Gazans.
A top IDF official met with leading UN bureaucrats regarding the issue on Tuesday, demanding to know how they could accuse Israel of causing famine in Gaza, which, again, has not happened yet but might shortly should the UN continue to abandon its trucks – while simultaneously leaving the aid trucks to sit there without distributing the food.
According to the senior IDF official, the UN bureaucrats sat quietly for at least 20 seconds, struggling to come up with a response. Eventually, one of them said that they would make more of an effort to get the trucks moving again, the IDF reported.
Yonah Jeremy Bob and Reuters contributed to this report.