Unprecedented Alert: Humanitarian Workers in Gaza Facing Widespread Malnutrition Crisis
The United Nations and over 100 humanitarian and human rights organizations, including Oxfam, Save the Children, the UN, Red Cross/Red Crescent, Amnesty International, and others, are urgently calling for action to end the Israeli government’s siege of Gaza and allow lifesaving humanitarian aid to reach civilians.
The siege, which has been in place for years, has led to a severe food shortage. As of July 13, the UN has confirmed 875 Palestinians were killed while seeking food, with 201 deaths occurring on aid routes and the rest at distribution points. Thousands more have been injured. Tons of food, clean water, medical supplies, shelter items, and fuel are sitting untouched due to the Government of Israel's restrictions, delays, and fragmentation under its total siege.
The Israeli government's restrictions on the UN-led humanitarian system have prevented it from functioning effectively. This has resulted in a humanitarian crisis where 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 World Food Programme (WFP) warns that current conditions make operations untenable. To address this, the organizations are demanding an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza, all bureaucratic and administrative restrictions in Gaza should be lifted, and all land crossings in Gaza should be opened. They also urge governments to halt the transfer of weapons and ammunition to Israel.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies are providing critical medical aid in Gaza. However, their personnel face risks and attacks while serving civilians. The Center for Constitutional Rights and Amnesty International contest the role of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF)—an Israeli and US-backed aid distributor—of violating humanitarian norms and call for its closure.
In addition to the UN, several major organizations, including Oxfam and Save the Children, are urging concrete measures to end the siege in Gaza. These include restoring a principled, UN-led humanitarian response, ensuring access to everyone in all of Gaza, rejecting military-controlled distribution models, and pursuing measures to end attacks on aid recipients.
Welthungerhilfe, a large private aid organization in Germany, is providing aid in the most affected areas of Gaza, aiming for a world without hunger. The organizations are working together to provide aid, but they need the support of governments to end the siege and allow their efforts to make a meaningful difference.
In conclusion, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is urgent and requires immediate action. Governments are urged to act now to open all land crossings, restoring the flow of essential supplies, ending the siege, and agreeing to a ceasefire. The violation of humanitarian norms and the starvation of civilians as a method of warfare are considered war crimes. Let's work together to ensure that everyone in Gaza has access to the food, water, medical supplies, and shelter they need to survive.
- The UN-led humanitarian crisis in Gaza necessitates an immediate end to the Israeli government's restrictions on nutrition resources, as the food shortage has led to a surge in preventable health-and-wellness issues like acute watery diarrhoea and adults collapsing on the streets from hunger and dehydration.
- To address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, development cooperation among governments is crucial to not only open all land crossings for the flow of essential supplies like food, water, and medical supplies, but also to halt the transfer of weapons and ammunition to Israel, ensuring a safe environment for humanitarian workers and aid recipients, and pursuing measures to end attacks on aid distribution points and routes.
