Paul Ellertson, staff writer

On April 1, seven aid workers with the World Central Kitchen were killed by an Israeli air strike while trying to deliver food and other aid to civilians in Gaza. According to the BBC, the aid workers were traveling along an Israeli designated safe route, only about 1.5 miles from each vehicle when Israel attacked them. These seven workers came from countries like the U.K., U.S., Australia and Poland. With this most recent attack, there have been over 196 aid workers killed by Israel in Gaza. 

According to the BBC, Israel’s military has since apologized for the attack. Israel then promised to conduct an investigation which the U.S. National Security Council welcomed and stated that the investigation “must be fully and rapidly implemented.” 

Following the attack, Pres. Joe Biden made a phone call to Prime Minister Netanyahu. According to the BBC, Biden warned Netanyahu that Israel needed to minimize civilian casualties, otherwise U.S. support would be halted. With this, Biden also urged Netanyahu to reopen and secure the ground aid routes in Gaza. 

According to the BBC, due to the blockades on the ground, there has been virtually no humanitarian supplies able to get into Gaza. The U.S., U.K. and Jordan have had to airdrop supplies to get it to the people, which has created two more problems for the people of Gaza, according to the BBC. The first problem is that the civilians are still not getting enough aid. The second problem is that packages have been landing either on top of people when the parachutes fail or in the sea. According to the BBC, people are drowning trying to retrieve the supplies from the water. This has made the famine in Gaza worse since Israel has continued blocking humanitarian aid. 

According to Al Jazeera, so far just over 33,000 Palestinians have been murdered in Gaza alone within the six months of the initial attacks. These statistics account for over 13,000 children, 8,000 women and 83,886 people being either injured or missing. According to Al Jazeera, in the West Bank more than 459 people including 117 children and 4,750 people are injured. Israel has edited its death toll of only 1,139 from Oct. 7, 2023 to be more exact, while 8,730 Israelis have been injured. 

According to Al Jazeera, around 80% of commercial buildings and schools have been destroyed. Only 10 of the 35 hospitals are still functional. 83% of groundwater wells are gone. 267 churches, mosques and other places of worship are gone.

It is unclear as to when the war will end as Netanyahu has yet to disclose any intentions of ceasing air strikes. For the time being, Palestine must continue to rely on foreign aid while the death toll rises.