US senators say Israel blocks them from entering Gaza, taking part in aid airdrop
Senator Chris Van Hollen says Israel has denied him and Senator Jeff Merkley permission to join a Jordanian aid airdrop flight to Gaza.
“Netanyahu is restricting aid trucks into Gaza – the best way to get food to starving people there – so Jordan is delivering some with air drops,” Van Hollen wrote on X. “The Jordanians said Senator Jeff Merkley and I could join one of those flights to see the devastation, but Israel denied authorisation for our scheduled flight.”
He added that Israel had also denied the duo’s entry into Gaza to “see first-hand the destruction” of Gaza.
UNRWA says Israel blocking Gaza shelter supplies for nearly six months
UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, says children in Gaza are once again being forced from their homes as Israel intensifies its military operations.
“Children in Gaza are not walking to school. They are once again being forced to try to find somewhere safe. But there is nowhere,” UNRWA wrote on X.
The agency said overcrowding and the continued Israeli blockade on aid are leaving families without shelter. “There is not enough space. There are not enough tents,” it added.
UNRWA has been barred from bringing in shelter supplies for nearly six months, a restriction it said is worsening the crisis as thousands of families are displaced with nowhere to go.
“The intensified Israeli military operation is pushing thousands into the unknown,” the agency said, calling once again for permission to bring in lifesaving relief.
Israel detonating buildings in residential areas
Ismail al-Thawabta, director of Gaza’s Government Media Office, says the Israeli army is using “explosive robots” in residential areas and forcibly displacing Palestinians.
In a statement on X, al-Thawabta said the army has detonated more than 80 such devices in civilian neighbourhoods over the past three weeks, calling it a “scorched-earth policy” that has destroyed homes and endangered lives.
He said more than one million Palestinians in Gaza City and the north “refuse to submit to the policy of forced displacement and ethnic cleansing” despite the destruction and starvation caused by the Israeli assault.
🚨Israeli occupation forces deploy explosive robots to blow up civilian homes in #Gaza City, turning neighborhoods into rubble with remote-controlled destruction. pic.twitter.com/9ajbK0Yqan
— Government Communication Center (@pal_gcc_en) August 31, 2025
Displaced families in Gaza City unable to move south despite military orders
There is no safe place at all, wherever you go. We just have to have faith in our heart that this place is going to be safe enough until we finish what we’re doing. And then we get back to our base. But there’s no guarantee that here is safe. I mean, the drones are pulling up above Gaza City.
The vast majority of people do not have the financial capabilities to evacuate to central and southern Gaza.
There is lots of contradiction and misleading narrative when it comes to safety. The Israeli military has raided Gaza City at least six times. It is definitely different this time because it threatens the very existence of Palestinians. Even for those people who have previously tolerated this six times with the Israeli military operations on the ground.
