On February 14, 2026 — as world leaders gathered in Munich for the annual Security Conference — the United Nations announced that Israeli authorities had blocked three humanitarian missions inside Gaza, including an attempt to reach a wastewater treatment plant in Khan Yunis. The UN framed the denials as part of a wider pattern of access restrictions limiting civilian relief and basic services in the territory.

Meanwhile, accounts were emerging from Palestinians attempting to return home through the Rafah crossing. According to OCHA’s Humanitarian Situation Update, the UN Human Rights Office documented returnees being taken to checkpoints where some were handcuffed, blindfolded, searched, and subjected to intrusive interrogations. Some were denied access to toilets or medical care. Interrogators told at least one woman that Gaza “belonged to Israel” and that “the war would return.” The Palestinian human rights organizations Adalah and Gisha sent an urgent letter to Israeli officials calling the treatment “a policy of abuse and unlawful restrictions” that amounts to forced displacement.

Gaza’s Government Media Office said that since Rafah partially reopened, Israel’s compliance rate for allowing travelers to cross was approximately 27% — 488 of 1,800 authorized travelers over the initial operating period. Dozens were denied permission to leave for medical treatment. The Al-Shifa Hospital director described the blockage as a potential “death sentence” for patients waiting for care unavailable inside Gaza.

In Munich, the focus was elsewhere. The United States and European nations sparred over the governance framework for Gaza’s future reconstruction. Spain’s Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares accused Washington of bypassing the UN mandate and excluding Europe despite European funding of the Palestinian Authority. US official Mike Waltz dismissed what he called “hand-wringing” about the Board of Peace structure and confirmed that Indonesia had agreed to contribute 8,000 troops to an international stabilization force.

UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini, present at the conference, noted that Gaza received insufficient attention in Munich. He described the ceasefire as one “in name only” given nearly daily Israeli violations, and reminded participants that UNRWA’s East Jerusalem headquarters — seized in defiance of two ICJ rulings — remained in Israeli hands. His agency, banned by Israel from operating in the territory, continues to maintain 12,000 staff working in Gaza under extraordinary constraints.

The gap between the Munich conference room and the Rafah crossing is not a communications problem. It is a reflection of who is being centered in this process — and who is not.