Date: July 23, 2025 Type: , Country:

As mass starvation spreads across Gaza, our colleagues and those we serve are wasting away

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, 109 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.

Signatories: 

  1. American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)
  2. A.M. Qattan Foundation
  3. A New Policy
  4. ACT Alliance
  5. Action Against Hunger (ACF)
  6. Action for Humanity
  7. ActionAid International
  8. American Baptist Churches Palestine Justice Network
  9. Amnesty International
  10. Asamblea de Cooperación por la Paz
  11. Associazione Cooperazione e Solidarietà (ACS)
  12. Bystanders No More
  13. Campain
  14. CARE
  15. Caritas Germany
  16. Caritas Internationalis
  17. Caritas Jerusalem
  18. Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD)
  19. Center for Mind-Body Medicine (CMBM)
  20. CESVI Fondazione
  21. Children Not Numbers
  22. Christian Aid
  23. Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP)
  24. CIDSE- International Family of Catholic Social Justice Organisations
  25. Cooperazione Internazionale Sud Sud (CISS)
  26. Council for Arab‑British Understanding (CAABU)
  27. DanChurchAid (DCA)
  28. Danish Refugee Council (DRC)
  29. Doctors against Genocide
  30. Episcopal Peace Fellowship
  31. EuroMed Rights
  32. Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL)
  33. Forum Ziviler Friedensdienst e.V.
  34. Gender Action for Peace and Security
  35. Global Legal Action Network (GLAN)
  36. Global Witness
  37. Health Workers 4 Palestine
  38. HelpAge International
  39. Humanity & Inclusion (HI)
  40. Humanity First UK
  41. Indiana Center for Middle East Peace
  42. Insight Insecurity
  43. International Media Support
  44. International NGO Safety Organisation
  45. Islamic Relief
  46. Jahalin Solidarity
  47. Japan International Volunteer Center (JVC)
  48. Kenya Association of Muslim Medical Professionals (KAMMP)
  49. Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation
  50. MedGlobal
  51. Medico International
  52. Medico International Switzerland (medico international schweiz)
  53. Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP)
  54. Mennonite Central Committee (MCC)
  55. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)
  56. Médecins du Monde France
  57. Médecins du Monde Spain
  58. Médecins du Monde Switzerland
  59. Mercy Corps
  60. Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA)
  61. Movement for Peace (MPDL)
  62. Muslim Aid
  63. National Justice and Peace Network in England and Wales
  64. Nonviolence International
  65. Norwegian Aid Committee (NORWAC)
  66. Norwegian Church Aid (NCA)
  67. Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA)
  68. Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC)
  69. Oxfam International
  70. Pax Christi England and Wales
  71. Pax Christi International
  72. Pax Christi Merseyside
  73. Pax Christi USA
  74. Pal Law Commission
  75. Palestinian American Medical Association
  76. Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF)
  77. Palestinian Medical Relief Society (PMRS)
  78. Peace Direct
  79. Peace Winds
  80. Pediatricians for Palestine
  81. People in Need
  82. Plan International
  83. Première Urgence Internationale (PUI)
  84. Progettomondo
  85. Project HOPE
  86. Quaker Palestine Israel Network
  87. Rebuilding Alliance
  88. Saferworld
  89. Sabeel‑Kairos UK
  90. Save the Children (SCI)
  91. Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund
  92. Solidarités International
  93. Støtteforeningen Det Danske Hus i Palæstina
  94. Swiss Church Aid (HEKS/EPER)
  95. Terre des Hommes Italia
  96. Terre des Hommes Lausanne
  97. Terre des Hommes Nederland
  98. The Borgen Project
  99. The Center for Mind-Body Medicine (CMBM)
  100. The Glia Project
  101. The Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect (GCR2P)
  102. The Institute for the Understanding of Anti‑Palestinian Racism
  103. Un Ponte Per (UPP)
  104. United Against Inhumanity (UAI)
  105. War Child Alliance
  106. War Child UK
  107. War on Want
  108. Weltfriedensdienst e.V.
  109. Welthungerhilfe (WHH)