Aid agencies warn of Gaza starvation as Israel urged to end blockade

CNN

6 days ago

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Title: Aid agencies say they are watching their colleagues 'waste away' amid Gaza food crisis
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A coalition of more than 100 international humanitarian organizations has called on Israel to end its blockade of Gaza, restore the full flow of food, clean water and medical supplies to the enclave, and agree to a ceasefire.
In a joint statement the 111 agencies warned that supplies in the enclave are now 'totally depleted' and that humanitarian groups are 'witnessing their own colleagues and partners waste away before their eyes.'
'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,' the agencies said in the statement.
Israel has previously blamed Hamas for its decision to halt aid shipments, alleging the militant group was stealing supplies and profiting from it. Hamas has denied this allegation.
Israeli agencies have also blamed UN agencies, accusing them of not picking up aid that is ready to move into Gaza. But the UN asserts that Israeli forces frequently deny permission to move aid within the enclave, and that much more is waiting to be allowed in.
Major agencies including Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), Amnesty International, and the Norwegian Refugee Council are among the signatories of the statement.
For context: Gaza was already heavily dependent on aid and commercial shipments of food even before Israel launched its war on Hamas following the October 2023 attack, and shortages of food, medical supplies, fuel and other necessities have only worsened since.
The agencies criticized the controversial Israeli- and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which began operating on May 27. The organizations said shootings occurred almost daily at food distribution sites.
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Title: Famine is "banging down the door," Oxfam director tells CNN
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Humanitarian aid agencies are warning their own staff inside Gaza are starving alongside the civilians they are trying to help an aid agency director told CNN Wednesday as Israel continues to restrict the entry of desperately needed supplies into the territory.
'Time is up. Famine is knocking on the door. It's banging down the door right now,' said Scott Paul, director of Peace and Security at Oxfam.
'What we're seeing across the Gaza Strip is families are getting by with one nutritiously poor meal every day. Many cases, people are going without eating,' Paul to CNN's John Vause.
Paul added that there is enough food at the borders around Gaza to feed the whole population for two months, but it can't reach those who need it because its distribution is 'being systematically restricted by the Government of Israel.'
Israel has said it is allowing ample aid into the besieged Palestinian territory but aid agencies and multiple Western nations say the amount of food reaching Gaza's population under strict Israeli control is a fraction of what is needed.
Israel's war in Gaza has also personally affected aid workers – many of them Palestinian – as they wake every morning trying to figure out who the most vulnerable people are in their communities and try to help them, Paul said.
Uncertainty over whether aid workers can do their work safely, find enough food and medical care for their children and relatives has not changed in the last 21 months since the war, he added.