As the United States announced that its top envoy was traveling to Europe for discussions on a potential ceasefire and aid corridor, more than 100 humanitarian organisations and human rights organisations issued warnings on Wednesday that “mass starvation” was spreading in Gaza.
The devastating humanitarian situation in Gaza, where over two million people are experiencing acute shortages of food and other necessities following 21 months of conflict, is putting increasing pressure on Israel from around the world.
But it denied blocking supplies, announcing that 950 trucks’ worth of aid were in Gaza and waiting for international agencies to collect and distribute it.
The United Nations said that Israeli forces had killed more than 1,000 Palestinians trying to get food since the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) started operations in late May – effectively sidelining the longstanding UN-led system.
A statement with 111 signatories, including Doctors Without Borders (MSF), Save the Children and Oxfam, warned that “our colleagues and those we serve are wasting away.”
The groups demanded a quick negotiated cease-fire, the opening of all land crossings, and the unrestricted delivery of relief via UN-led institutions.
The United States has announced that its envoy, Steve Witkoff, will travel to Europe this week for Gaza discussions before perhaps visiting the Middle East.
Witkoff comes with “a strong hope that we will come forward with another ceasefire as well as a humanitarian corridor for aid to flow, that both sides have in fact agreed to,” State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce told reporters.
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Even after Israel eased a more than two-month humanitarian blockade in late May, Gaza’s populace continues to face severe scarcity.
Israel claims humanitarian help is being let into Gaza and accuses Hamas of exploiting civilian hardship, such as taking food donations and selling them at inflated prices or firing at those waiting for aid.
GHF said in a statement that the United Nations, which refuses to work with it, “has a capacity and operational problem” and called for “more collaboration” to deliver life-saving aid.
In their statement, the humanitarian organisations said warehouses with tonnes of supplies were sitting untouched just outside the territory, and even inside, as they were blocked from delivering the goods.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the “horror” facing Palestinians in Gaza under Israeli military attack was unprecedented in recent years.
The head of Gaza’s largest hospital said Tuesday that 21 children had died due to malnutrition and starvation in the Palestinian territory over the previous three days.
Mediators have been shuttling between Israeli and Hamas negotiators in Doha since July 6 in search of an elusive truce, with expectations that Witkoff would join the talks as they entered their final stages.
More than two dozen Western governments urged for an urgent halt to the war on Monday, claiming that the suffering in Gaza had “reached new depths.”
According to the Gaza Health Ministry, Israel’s military operation has killed 59,106 Palestinians, the majority of whom are civilians.
