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

More than 100 organizations are sounding the alarm to allow life-saving aid back into Gaza

Toronto, ON, July 23, 2025 – As the Israeli government’s siege starves the people of Gaza, aid workers are now joining those same food lines, risking being shot just to feed their families. With supplies now totally depleted, humanitarian organizations 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, more than 100 organizations 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 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. The World Food Program (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 organizations 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 diarrhea 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, they are blocked from reaching those in need, including exhausted and starved aid workers. 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 organizations. 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
  1. Campain
  2. CARE
  3. Caritas Germany
  4. Caritas Internationalis
  5. Caritas Jerusalem
  6. Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD)
  7. Center for Mind-Body Medicine (CMBM)
  8. CESVI Fondazione
  9. Children Not Numbers
  10. Christian Aid
  11. Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP)
  12. CIDSE- International Family of Catholic Social Justice Organisations
  1. Cooperazione Internazionale Sud Sud (CISS)
  2. Council for Arab‑British Understanding (CAABU)
  3. DanChurchAid (DCA)
  4. Danish Refugee Council (DRC)
  5. Doctors against Genocide
  6. Episcopal Peace Fellowship
  7. EuroMed Rights
  8. Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL)
  9. Forum Ziviler Friedensdienst e.V.
  10. Gender Action for Peace and Security
  1. Global Legal Action Network (GLAN)
  2. Global Witness
  3. Health Workers 4 Palestine
  4. HelpAge International
  5. Humanity & Inclusion (HI)
  6. Humanity First UK
  7. Indiana Center for Middle East Peace
  8. Insecurity Insight
  9. International Media Support
  10. International NGO Safety Organisation
  11. Islamic Relief
  12. Jahalin Solidarity
  13. Japan International Volunteer Center (JVC)
  14. Kenya Association of Muslim Medical Professionals (KAMMP)
  15. Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation
  16. MedGlobal
  17. Medico International
  18. Medico International Switzerland (medico international schweiz)
  19. Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP)
  20. Mennonite Central Committee (MCC)
  21. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)
  22. Médecins du Monde France
  23. Médecins du Monde Spain
  24. Médecins du Monde Switzerland
  25. Mercy Corps
  26. Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA)
  1. Movement for Peace (MPDL)
  2. Muslim Aid
  3. National Justice and Peace Network in England and Wales
  4. Nonviolence International
  5. Norwegian Aid Committee (NORWAC)
  6. Norwegian Church Aid (NCA)
  7. Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA)
  8. Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC)
  9. Oxfam International
  10. Pax Christi England and Wales
  11. Pax Christi International
  12. Pax Christi Merseyside
  13. Pax Christi USA
  14. Pal Law Commission
  15. Palestinian American Medical Association
  16. Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF)
  17. Palestinian Medical Relief Society (PMRS)
  18. Peace Direct
  19. Peace Winds
  20. Pediatricians for Palestine
  21. People in Need
  22. Plan International
  23. Première Urgence Internationale (PUI)
  24. Progettomondo
  25. Project HOPE
  26. Quaker Palestine Israel Network
  27. Rebuilding Alliance
  28. Refugees International
  29. Saferworld
  1. Sabeel‑Kairos UK
  2. Save the Children (SCI)
  3. Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund
  4. Solidarités International
  5. Støtteforeningen Det Danske Hus i Palæstina
  6. Swiss Church Aid (HEKS/EPER)
  7. Terre des Hommes Italia
  8. Terre des Hommes Lausanne
  9. Terre des Hommes Nederland
  10. The Borgen Project
  11. The Center for Mind-Body Medicine (CMBM)
  12. The Glia Project
  13. The Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect (GCR2P)
  14. The International Development and Relief Foundation
  15. The Institute for the Understanding of Anti‑Palestinian Racism
  16. Un Ponte Per (UPP)
  17. United Against Inhumanity (UAI)
  18. War Child Alliance
  19. War Child UK
  20. War on Want
  21. Weltfriedensdienst e.V.
  22. Welthungerhilfe (WHH)

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Plan International Canada is a member of a global organization dedicated to advancing children’s rights and equality for girls. Plan International has been building powerful partnerships for children for over 85 years and is now active in more than 80 countries.

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