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Aid groups warn mass starvation spreading in Gaza, seek ceasefire

23.07.2025 13:30
More than 100 humanitarian organizations, including Doctors Without Borders, Save the Children and Oxfam, warned on Wednesday that mass starvation is gripping Gaza and urged an immediate ceasefire and unimpeded UN‑led aid deliveries.
Israeli and Arab activists take part in a rally calling for an end to the war on Gaza and the famine stemming from it, in Tel Aviv, Israel, 22 July 2025. At least 100 Palestinians, including 80 children, have died of malnutrition in the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said on 22 July.
Israeli and Arab activists take part in a rally calling for an end to the war on Gaza and the famine stemming from it, in Tel Aviv, Israel, 22 July 2025. At least 100 Palestinians, including 80 children, have died of malnutrition in the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said on 22 July. Photo: EPA/ABIR SULTAN

The 111 signatories said in a statement that colleagues and those they serve “are wasting away”, blaming 21 months of conflict triggered by Hamas’s attack on Israel for depriving more than 2 million Palestinians of food and other essentials.

They said warehouses holding tons of supplies lay untouched just outside and inside the enclave because aid workers were blocked from reaching them.

The United Nations said on Tuesday that Israeli forces have killed more than 1,000 Palestinians trying to reach aid since the US‑ and Israel‑backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation began work in late May, sidelining the previous UN‑run system.

The organizations demanded an immediate negotiated ceasefire, the reopening of all land crossings and the reinstatement of UN‑led aid flows, saying Palestinians were trapped “in a cycle of hope and heartbreak”.

Israel says it is letting assistance in and accuses Hamas of stealing and reselling food or firing at crowds waiting for handouts.

“The humanitarian system cannot run on shifting timelines”, the groups said. “Humanitarians cannot wait for political commitments that fail to deliver access”.

(jh)

Source: BBCGuardian