Israel is choking northern Gaza of essential humanitarian aid, with only 12 trucks delivering food and water there over two and a half months, reported Oxfam Sunday.
"Of the meager 34 trucks of food and water given permission to enter the North Gaza Governorate over the last 2.5 months, deliberate delays and systematic obstructions by the Israeli military meant that just twelve managed to distribute aid to starving Palestinian civilians," Oxfam said in a statement, in a count that included deliveries through Saturday.
"For three of these, once the food and water had been delivered to the school where people were sheltering, it was then cleared and shelled within hours," Oxfam added.
Israel, which has tightly controlled aid entering the besieged territory since launching the genocidal war, often blames what it says is the inability of relief organizations to handle and distribute large quantities of aid.
In a report focused on water, New York-based Human Rights Watch detailed Thursday what it called deliberate efforts by Israeli authorities "of a systematic nature" to deprive Gazans of water.
The rights body added that Israel's action "likely caused thousands of deaths ... and will likely continue to cause deaths," which legally amounts to acts of genocide and extermination.
They were the latest in a series of serious accusations of war crimes and genocide brought against Israel.
The Gaza war was triggered by the Hamas incursion of southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which caused 1,208 deaths, according to Israeli official figures.
Israel's genocidal war since has killed over 45,200 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the territory's Health Ministry.
Oxfam said that it and other international aid groups have been "continually prevented from delivering life-saving aid" in northern Gaza since Oct. 6 this year, when Israel intensified its bombardment of the territory.
"Thousands of people are estimated to still be cut off, but with humanitarian access blocked it's impossible to know exact numbers," Oxfam said.
"At the beginning of December, humanitarian organizations operating in Gaza were receiving calls from vulnerable people trapped in homes and shelters that had completely run out of food and water."
Oxfam highlighted one instance of aid delivery in November being disrupted by Israeli authorities.
"A convoy of 11 trucks last month was initially held up at the holding point by the Israeli military at Jabalia, where some food was taken by starving civilians," it said.
"After the green light to proceed to the destination was received, the trucks were then stopped further on at a military checkpoint. Soldiers forced the drivers to offload the aid in a militarized zone, which desperate civilians had no access to."
The U.N. General Assembly overwhelmingly approved a resolution Thursday asking the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to assess Israel's obligations to assist Palestinians.
