More than 100 organizations are sounding the alarm to allow in life-saving aid.
As the Israeli government’s siege starves the people of Gaza, aid workers are now joining
the same food lines, risking being shot just to feed their families. With supplies now totally
depleted, humanitarian organisations are witnessing their own colleagues and partners
waste away before their eyes.
Exactly two months since the Israeli government-controlled scheme, the Gaza Humanitarian
Foundation, began operating, more than 100 organisations are sounding the alarm, urging
governments to act: open all land crossings; restore the full flow of food, clean water,
medical supplies, shelter items, and fuel through a principled, UN-led mechanism; end the
siege, and agree to a ceasefire now.
“Each morning, the same question echoes across Gaza: will I eat today?” said one agency
representative.
Massacres at food distribution sites in Gaza are occurring near-daily. As of July 13, the UN
confirmed 875 Palestinians were killed while seeking food, 201 on aid routes and the rest at
distribution points. Thousands more have been injured. Meanwhile, Israeli forces have
forcibly displaced nearly two million exhausted Palestinians with the most recent mass
displacement order issued on July 20, confining Palestinians to less than 12 per cent of
Gaza. WFP warns that current conditions make operations untenable. The starvation of
civilians as a method of warfare is a war crime.
Just outside Gaza, in warehouses – and even within Gaza itself – tons of food, clean water,
medical supplies, shelter items and fuel sit untouched with humanitarian organisations
blocked from accessing or delivering them. The Government of Israel’s restrictions, delays,
and fragmentation under its total siege have created chaos, starvation, and death. An aid
worker providing psychosocial support spoke of the devastating impact on children:
“Children tell their parents they want to go to heaven, because at least heaven has food.”
Doctors report record rates of acute malnutrition, especially among children and older
people. Illnesses like acute watery diarrhoea are spreading, markets are empty, waste is
piling up, and adults are collapsing on the streets from hunger and dehydration. Distributions
in Gaza average just 28 trucks a day, far from enough for over two million people, many of
whom have gone weeks without assistance.
The UN-led humanitarian system has not failed, it has been prevented from functioning.
Humanitarian agencies have the capacity and supplies to respond at scale. But, with access
denied, we are blocked from reaching those in need, including our own exhausted and
starved teams. On July 10, the EU and Israel announced steps to scale up aid. But these promises of ‘progress’ ring hollow when there is no real change on the ground. Every day
without a sustained flow means more people dying of preventable illnesses. Children starve
while waiting for promises that never arrive.
Palestinians are trapped in a cycle of hope and heartbreak, waiting for assistance and
ceasefires, only to wake up to worsening conditions. It is not just physical torment, but
psychological. Survival is dangled like a mirage. The humanitarian system cannot run on
false promises. Humanitarians cannot operate on shifting timelines or wait for political
commitments that fail to deliver access.
Governments must stop waiting for permission to act. We cannot continue to hope that
current arrangements will work. It is time to take decisive action: demand an immediate and
permanent ceasefire; lift all bureaucratic and administrative restrictions; open all land
crossings; ensure access to everyone in all of Gaza; reject military-controlled distribution
models; restore a principled, UN-led humanitarian response and continue to fund principled
and impartial humanitarian organisations. States must pursue concrete measures to end the
siege, such as halting the transfer of weapons and ammunition.
Piecemeal arrangements and symbolic gestures, like airdrops or flawed aid deals, serve as
a smokescreen for inaction. They cannot replace states’ legal and moral obligations to
protect Palestinian civilians and ensure meaningful access at scale. States can and must
save lives before there are none left to save.
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