As Mass Starvation Spreads Across Gaza, Our Colleagues and Those We Serve are Wasting Away

Joint Statement

Over 100 humanitarian agencies call for decisive international action to end the mass starvation in Gaza. These agencies have the means to provide necessary aid, but Israel’s siege prevents distribution, causing civilians and aid workers alike to suffer and die from hunger in Gaza as food rots just outside.

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