Hunger in Gaza sparks global outcry to stop the war

Alerts about extreme hunger in Gaza are increasing, generating a wave of global outrage over the situation in the Strip. Over 100 international humanitarian and human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, Save the Children, and Caritas, published a statement Wednesday warning that the population in the Strip — and also their workers on the ground — “are wasting away” in the face of the “spread of mass hunger” in the enclave, which has led to a further 10 deaths from starvation in the past 24 hours. It is the latest call for international attention in a week in which 28 diverse countries have demanded an immediate end to the war from Israel amid a growing mobilization of civil society organizations taking their states to court for their inaction regarding Gaza.

The outcry from these groups — with extensive knowledge and experience in humanitarian aid — comes as the numbers continue to worsen. The Hamas-controlled Gaza Ministry of Health reported Wednesday the deaths of 10 more people from starvation, adding to the 15 already announced the day before. Since the start of the Israeli offensive, at least 111 Gazans — most of them children — have died from lack of food.

At the same time, over 1,000 people have been shot dead in food distribution zones established two months ago by Israel and the United States, forcing thousands of Gazans to face the dilemma of whether to risk their lives in search of food or watch their most vulnerable relatives — children, the elderly, the sick — fade away.

In response to these allegations, Israel categorically denies these problems and argues that there are 950 trucks carrying humanitarian aid in two of the access zones to the Strip (Kerem Shalom and Zikim), on the Gaza side, waiting for their contents to be collected. “These trucks are waiting there,” said a statement from Cogat, the Israeli military agency responsible for authorizing the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza.

The trickle of deaths that the international community perceives as preventable is provoking a wave of condemnation with renewed demands for an immediate ceasefire and the reopening of humanitarian flows. Specifically, the White House special envoy for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, began a tour Wednesday in which he hopes to secure a truce between Israel and the Islamist militant group Hamas in the coming days. Witkoff is expected to meet with Israeli representatives in Rome this Thursday. If these talks are fruitful, the diplomat will travel to Qatar to work on the final stages of the negotiations and oversee the signing of the truce.

Last week, mediators from the U.S., Qatar, and Egypt presented an updated truce proposal to Israel and Hamas, according to Axios. The plan includes a 60-day truce, the return of 28 hostages — 10 of them alive — the release of Palestinian prisoners, and a massive increase in humanitarian aid to the enclave.

Following the letter signed by 28 countries — including France, the United Kingdom, Spain, Canada, Australia, and Japan — warning about the deaths occurring during food distributions in Gaza, multiple international political voices have raised their voices against Israel. The French Foreign Ministry published a statement on Wednesday blaming the Jewish state “for the malnutrition and risk of famine” plaguing the Palestinian enclave, something it sees as “a consequence of the blockade imposed by the Israeli authorities.” The French government has also blamed Israel for the daily shootings at food distribution points.

“All options remain on the table”

On Tuesday, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Kaja Kallas warned Israel that “the killing of civilians seeking aid in Gaza is indefensible.” In a social media post, the European Union representative stated that “all options remain on the table if Israel doesn’t deliver on its pledges.”

Tunisian President Kais Said surprised White House Africa envoy Massad Boulos on Wednesday by showing him images of starving children in the Strip during an official meeting. “I think you know these images well,” the Tunisian leader told him inside the Presidential Palace in Carthage. Boulos, born in Lebanon, listened in silence. “In the 21st century, a child eats sand because he has nothing else,” the president insisted.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan has called on the UK government to recognize the State of Palestine as a way to safeguard the two-state solution. “The international community — including our own government — must do far more to pressure the Israeli government to stop this horrific, senseless killing and let vital, life-saving aid in. Nothing justifies the actions of the Israeli government,” he said.

Meanwhile, the offensive continues to ravage the Palestinian enclave. In a statement, the Israeli army said it was “deepening operations” in Gaza City and the north of the Strip. Medical sources reported in the Arab press that at least 56 people died Wednesday as a result of Israeli attacks. Another 70 died Tuesday, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health. Two of those killed in recent hours are Tamer al-Zaanin and Walaa al-Jabari, Palestinian journalists. These two deaths bring the total number of journalists killed by Israeli fire to 231 since October 2023.

After 656 days of offensives and successive expulsion orders, the Israeli army has enclosed two million Gazans in 12% of the enclave’s territory. The humanitarian community warns that overcrowding is hampering its operations.

Since March 2, actors within the UN-led humanitarian system have denounced an almost complete blockade of their operations by Israel. This mechanism, which has decades of experience on the ground and thousands of local workers trusted by the Gazan community, has established 400 distribution points throughout the territory. These distribution centers ensured everyone received their share. Israel defends the closure of this system as a way to prevent aid from reaching Hamas, something it claims without evidence is a systematic occurrence and allows the group to retain power in the enclave.

The joint statement by 109 international organizations demands action from the world’s governments to achieve a permanent truce and lift restrictions on humanitarian flows. “Stop waiting for permission to act. We can no longer wait for the current measures to work.”

These groups denounce that “as the Israeli government’s siege drives the population of Gaza to starvation, humanitarian workers join the same food lines, risking execution.” Members of their organizations and those they work for, they lament, are being “consumed before their very eyes.” They claim that tons of food, clean water, medical supplies, and fuel are waiting both on the outskirts of the Strip and even inside. “But the Israeli government’s restrictions and delays are creating chaos, famine, and death.” A psychosocial worker mentioned in the statement describes the impact of hunger on children: “They tell their parents they want to go to heaven, because at least there is food there.”

The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has also warned of the fainting and extreme hunger of its workers. “UNRWA has thousands of trucks [with humanitarian cargo] in neighboring countries waiting to enter Gaza, where the Israeli authorities have barred them since March.”

Bushra Khalidi, Oxfam’s head of the Palestinian Territories, denounces that the elderly are resorting to desperate solutions to offer something to their children. “There are parents boiling tree leaves to feed them. There are humanitarian workers burning their own clothes to cook the last remnants of lentils, and mothers telling us their children died in front of them because their bodies couldn’t take it anymore.” Khalidi denies this is a humanitarian failure and describes it as a “deliberate policy.”

Gaza Health Ministry spokesman Khalil Daqran told Reuters on Tuesday that 600,000 people in Gaza are suffering from malnutrition, including 60,000 pregnant women.

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