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

Joint Statement

Over 130 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. 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. ActionAid UK
9. American Baptist Churches Palestine Justice Network
10. Amnesty International
11. Anera
12. Asamblea de Cooperación por la Paz
13. Associazione Cooperazione e Solidarietà (ACS)
14. Bystanders No More
15. Campain
16. CARE
17. Caritas Española
18. Caritas Germany
19. Caritas Internationalis
20. Caritas Jerusalem
21. Caritas Middle East and North Africa (Caritas MONA)
22. Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD)
23. Center for Mind-Body Medicine (CMBM)
24. CESVI Fondazione
25. Children Not Numbers
26. Christian Aid
27. Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP)
28. CIDSE – International Family of Catholic Social Justice Organisations
29. Cooperazione Internazionale Sud Sud (CISS)
30. Council for Arab‑British Understanding (CAABU)
31. DanChurchAid (DCA)
32. Danish Refugee Council (DRC)
33. Development and Peace – Caritas Canada
34. Diakonia
35. Doctors against Genocide
36. Embrace the Middle East
37. Episcopal Peace Fellowship
38. EuroMed Rights
39. Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL)
40. Forum Ziviler Friedensdienst e.V.
41. Gender Action for Peace and Security
42. Glia
43. Global Legal Action Network (GLAN)
44. Global Witness
45. Health Workers 4 Palestine
46. HelpAge International
47. Human Concern International
48. Humanity & Inclusion (HI)
49. Humanity First UK
50. IM Swedish Development Partner
51. Indiana Center for Middle East Peace
52. INKOTA-netzwek e.V.
53. International Development and Relief Foundation
54. Insecurity Insight
55. INTERSOS
56. International Media Support
57. International NGO Safety Organisation
58. Islamic Relief
59. Jahalin Solidarity
60. Japan International Volunteer Center (JVC)
61. Justice for All
62. Kenya Association of Muslim Medical Professionals (KAMMP)
63. KinderUSA
64. Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation
65. Malala Fund
66. MedGlobal
67. Medico International
68. Medico International Switzerland (medico international schweiz)
69. Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP)
70. Mennonite Central Committee (MCC)
71. Medicine for the People – Belgium (MPLP/GVHV)
72. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)
73. Médecins du Monde France
74. Médecins du Monde Spain
75. Médecins du Monde Switzerland
76. Mercy Corps
77. Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA)
78. Movement for Peace (MPDL)
79. Muslim Aid
80. National Justice and Peace Network in England and Wales
81. Nonviolence International
82. Nonviolent Peaceforce
83. Norwegian Aid Committee (NORWAC)
84. Norwegian Church Aid (NCA)
85. Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA)
86. Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC)
87. Oxfam International
88. Pax Christi England and Wales
89. Pax Christi International
90. Pax Christi Merseyside
91. Pax Christi USA
92. Pal Law Commission
93. Palestinian American Medical Association
94. Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF)
95. Palestinian Medical Relief Society (PMRS)
96. Peace Direct
97. Peace Winds
98. Pediatricians for Palestine
99. People in Need
100. Plan International
101. Polish Humanitarian Action (PAH)
102. Première Urgence Internationale (PUI)
103. Progettomondo
104. Project HOPE
105. Quaker Palestine Israel Network
106. Quakers in Britain
107. Rebuilding Alliance
108. Refugees International
109. Right to Play
110. Saferworld
111. Sabeel‑Kairos UK
112. Save the Children (SCI)
113. Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund
114. Solidarités International
115. Start Network
116. Støtteforeningen Det Danske Hus i Palæstina
117. Swiss Church Aid (HEKS/EPER)
118. Terre des Hommes Italia
119. Terre des Hommes Lausanne
120. Terre des Hommes Nederland
121. The Borgen Project
122. The Center for Mind-Body Medicine (CMBM)
123. The Eastern Mediterranean Public Health Network (EMPHNET)
124. The Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect (GCR2P)
125. The Institute for the Understanding of Anti‑Palestinian Racism
126. Un Ponte Per (UPP)
127. United Against Inhumanity (UAI)
128. Vento di Terra
129. Viva Salud
130. War Child Alliance
131. War on Want
132. Weltfriedensdienst e.V.
133. Welthungerhilfe (WHH)
134. World Renew