One year of war in Gaza

One year into Israel’s war in Gaza, almost every single person in the enclave is dependent on humanitarian aid. Here's a collection of our in-depth reporting chronicling how efforts to bring in and distribute assistance have been blocked and undermined at every turn:

On 9 October, two days after Hamas' attack on Israel, the Israeli military announced a total siege of Gaza, cutting off water and electricity and blocking the entry of food, medicine, and fuel. There was no way in for Gaza aid and no way out for Palestinians .?

A humanitarian pause in the fighting at the end of November allowed meaningful amounts of aid to enter Gaza for the first time. But when the 7-day pause ended, Israel's expanding assault quickly ground aid efforts to a halt .?

By January, the prospect of people dying of starvation and disease outbreaks in Gaza was growing by the day. Aid leaders warned that needs were at a level they rarely – if ever – see, and that they were facing extreme barriers to respond .?

As Israel refused to open more border crossings and denied aid agencies access to parts of Gaza – especially the north – some countries looked to air drops and sea routes as alternatives, despite experts warning that they would be an ineffective distraction .?

One of the main barriers to delivering aid inside of Gaza has been a "complete disregard for the norms of modern warfare" by Israel that made the enclave extremely dangerous for aid workers, leading to a record number of deaths .?

When Israel finally allowed some aid into northern Gaza in February, it attempted to circumvent the UN & established NGOs, working instead with private contractors. The result was chaos and a spiralling death toll among Palestinians trying to obtain aid .???

Cut off from northern Gaza, aid agencies focused on the south. As Israel threatened to invade Rafah, Gaza's southernmost city, NGOs scrambled to prepare for massive humanitarian fallout , knowing their efforts would be nowhere close to enough.?

Meanwhile, much international attention was focused on US efforts to build a floating pier to deliver aid to Gaza. In this exclusive report , The New Humanitarian spoke to Palestinians whose homes were demolished to create a landing area for the pier.

Ultimately, after just two months, the US shut down its Gaza aid pier due to logistical and security challenges. The pier cost $230 million and delivered the equivalent of one day's worth of aid .?

When Israel invaded Rafah in early May, it threw an already inadequate and stymied aid response into disarray. With aid efforts "shot through the knees" , the situation for civilians in the enclave has only gone from bad to worse, with no end in sight.