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More than 100 international aid organizations and human rights groups are warning of mass starvation in Gaza and urging governments to take decisive action.
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), Save the Children, and Oxfam are among the signatories of a joint statement expressing dire concerns, stating that their colleagues and the populations they serve are “wasting away.”
Israel, which controls the entry of supplies into Gaza, has rejected the organizations’ statement, accusing them of “serving the propaganda of Hamas.”
The warning coincides with reports from Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry indicating that another 10 Palestinians have died in the last 24 hours due to malnutrition.
According to the ministry, this brings the total number of malnutrition-related deaths in Gaza since Sunday to 43.
The UN has reported that hospitals are admitting individuals suffering from severe exhaustion due to food scarcity, with others collapsing in the streets.
“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,” the 109 humanitarian organizations said in the statement published on Wednesday.
“With supplies now totally depleted, humanitarian organizations are witnessing their own colleagues and partners waste away before their eyes.”
Israel implemented a total blockade of aid deliveries to Gaza at the beginning of March and resumed its military offensive against Hamas two weeks later, ending a two-month ceasefire. The stated aim was to pressure the group to release remaining Israeli hostages.
While the blockade was partially eased after nearly two months following warnings from global experts about an impending famine, shortages of food, medicine, and fuel have worsened.
“Doctors report record rates of acute malnutrition, especially among children and older people. Illnesses like acute watery diarrhea are spreading, markets are empty, waste is piling up, and adults are collapsing on the streets from hunger and dehydration,” the humanitarian organizations warned.
“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.'”
The World Health Organization (WHO) has indicated that assessments reveal a quarter of the population is facing famine-like conditions, with nearly 100,000 women and children suffering from severe acute malnutrition requiring immediate treatment.
Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stated on Wednesday: “As you know, mass starvation means starvation of a large proportion of a population, and a large proportion of the population of Gaza is starving.”
“I don’t know what you would call it other than mass starvation, and it’s man-made.”
“And that’s very clear, this is because of the blockade.”
Dr. Ahmad al-Farra, head of pediatrics at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, reported that no food had been available for three days.
He noted that children arrive at his unit suffering from varying degrees of starvation.
Some were malnourished and died while under the hospital’s care, he added, while others arrived with underlying health conditions that prevented nutrient absorption.
“We were afraid we would reach this critical point – and now we have,” he stated.
The scarcity of essential supplies has caused prices in local markets to soar, rendering them unaffordable for most families.
“It’s outrageous – prices are on fire,” a Gaza resident said. “Every day we need 300 shekels ($90; £66.50) just for flour.”
The humanitarian organizations also cited UN reports indicating the Israeli military has killed over 1,050 Palestinians since May 27 while they were attempting to obtain food. This was the day after the controversial aid distribution mechanism, run by the Israeli- and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), began operating as an alternative to the UN-led mechanism.
According to the UN human rights office, 766 people have been killed in the vicinity of the GHF’s four aid sites, located inside Israeli military zones and operated by US private security contractors. Another 288 people have been killed near UN and other aid convoys.
The Israeli military maintains that troops deployed near the GHF sites have only fired warning shots and do not intentionally target civilians. The GHF claims the UN is using “false and misleading” figures from Gaza’s health ministry.
The humanitarian organizations further noted that nearly all of Gaza’s population has been displaced and confined to less than 12% of the territory not covered by Israeli evacuation orders or within Israeli militarized zones, rendering aid operations untenable.
They added that an average of only 28 lorry loads of aid are being distributed in Gaza each day.
“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 organizations blocked from accessing or delivering them.”
The UN asserts that Israel, as the occupying power, has an obligation under international law to ensure humanitarian aid reaches all populations in need.
Israel insists it acts in accordance with international law, facilitating the entry of aid while preventing it from reaching Hamas.
It recently acknowledged a significant drop in supplies reaching Palestinians, but attributed blame to UN agencies.
Cogat, the Israeli military body coordinating aid entry into Gaza, stated on X on Monday that nearly 4,500 lorry loads had entered Gaza over the past two months, including 2,500 tonnes of baby food and high-calorie special food for children.
It also published drone footage showing what it said was some of the 950 lorry loads of aid waiting to be collected by the UN and other international organizations on the Gazan side of the Kerem Shalom and Zikim crossings.
“The collection bottleneck remains the main obstacle to maintaining a consistent flow of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip,” Cogat said.
The UN has repeatedly stated that it struggles to obtain the necessary Israeli authorization for Gazan drivers to collect incoming supplies from inside the crossing points and transport them through military zones.
Ongoing hostilities, severely damaged roads, and critical fuel shortages have exacerbated the problems. Criminal looting by armed gangs has also disrupted operations.
The UN has noted that a major issue in recent weeks has been struggling to secure commitments from the Israeli military that desperate Palestinians attempting to collect aid from its convoys will not be harmed.
UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric told a briefing on Tuesday: “In too many cases where UN teams are permitted by Israel to collect supplies from closed compounds near Gaza’s crossings, civilians approaching these trucks come under fire despite repeated assurances that troops would not engage or be present.”
“This unacceptable pattern is the opposite of what facilitating humanitarian operations should look like. Absolutely no one should have to risk their lives to get food.”
The humanitarian organizations stated that it is time for governments 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 organizations.”
“States must pursue concrete measures to end the siege, such as halting the transfer of weapons and ammunition,” they added.
Israel’s foreign ministry issued a categorical rejection of the statement, accusing the organizations of “using Hamas’s talking points.”
“These organizations are serving the propaganda of Hamas, using their numbers and justifying their horrors,” it added.
“Instead of challenging the terror organization, they embrace it as their own.”
The ministry also claimed that they were “harming the chances” of a new ceasefire and hostage release deal, which Israel and Hamas are negotiating at indirect talks in Qatar.
The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
At least 59,219 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.
The Latin and Greek Orthodox patriarchs of Jerusalem describing starving people not “batting an eyelid” at the sound of bombing.
Fifteen deaths have been reported over the past day, the Hamas-run ministry says, as the UN warns of “soaring” malnutrition.
The Middle East has been transformed since 7 October, and almost two years on, the conflict in Gaza is at another inflection point.
The UK suspended dozens of arms licenses to Israel last year, but many say the measures do not go far enough.
The UK foreign secretary also criticizes Israel’s rejection of an international statement calling for the war to end.
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