Joanna Lenartowicz, Middle East program coordinator at Polish Humanitarian Action (PAH), told PAP that “unprecedented danger” has left “practically no” foreign humanitarian staff inside Gaza and that Palestinian workers cannot leave.
Most of those killed on duty were local staff, she said, adding that under international humanitarian law aid workers, civilians and civilian sites such as schools and hospitals must not be targeted.
Aid by sea is currently blocked [by Israel], Lenartowicz said. Deliveries arrive only by land and via airdrops, which she called exceptionally inefficient, costly and uncontrollable.
Pallets can fall into the sea, shatter on impact or land in evacuation or militarized zones—areas she said cover more than 86% of Gaza—sometimes killing people. She cited a nurse killed by a falling pallet two weeks ago and a family killed last year.
For more than a month, Israel has run an online campaign accusing the U.N. of refusing to distribute food in Gaza. Lenartowicz said only about 30% of trucks waiting with aid—food, water and fuel for hospital generators—are allowed in.
Meeting needs requires 500–600 trucks a day, but only dozens enter, she said, while many more wait at or near border crossings.
Much humanitarian infrastructure in Gaza is destroyed, hindering distribution, Lenartowicz added. Most trucks never reach drop-off points; desperate residents remove supplies as soon as vehicles cross the border, risking deadly accidents.
She cited a truck overturning and killing 20 people.
According to Lenartowicz, since the U.S.-based Gaza Humanitarian Foundation took over distribution points, only four exist across the enclave and just two actually function, compared with hundreds previously run by international NGOs.
“With only four points for more than 2 million people, aid goes to the strongest, which is not how it should work,” she said.
Despite the conditions, PAH is launching another project to provide drinking water and is currently raising funds to continue assistance.
World Humanitarian Day 2025
August 19 marks World Humanitarian Day, established by the U.N. to commemorate 22 aid workers killed in Al-Qaeda’s 2003 Canal Hotel bombing in Baghdad.
This year’s hashtag, “ActForHumanity,” was kept from last year due to a worsening crisis; the U.N. website says the humanitarian system is “exhausted, underfunded, overstretched and under attack.”
Amnesty International, in a recent report, said Israel is conducting a “deliberate starvation campaign” in Gaza, systematically damaging the health, welfare and social fabric of Palestinians. Palestinian authorities say 258 people, including 110 children, have died of hunger.
The U.N. humanitarian office said nearly 13,000 children were hospitalized for acute malnutrition in July, with more than 2,800 (22%) suffering severe acute malnutrition.
Israel denies causing hunger, accuses Hamas and affiliated bodies of inflating death figures, and rejects claims it blocks aid, saying its security measures aim to prevent Hamas from stealing supplies.
(jh)
Source: PAP