Gaza Faces ‘Mass Starvation’ as 100+ NGOs Sound Alarm Over Aid Blockades

Mass Starvation Tightens Grip on Gaza as Over 100 NGOs Demand Urgent Action

More than 100 humanitarian organisations have issued a stark warning: mass starvation is spreading across Gaza. The joint statement, released Wednesday, paints a harrowing picture of life in the war-torn territory, with entire communities facing critical food shortages, children dying of malnutrition, and humanitarian aid stuck at the border, blocked from reaching the people who need it most.

Among the 111 signatories were Doctors Without Borders (MSF), Save the Children, and Oxfam, who described the situation as not only a physical catastrophe but a psychological one: “Palestinians are trapped in a cycle of hope and heartbreak,” they wrote. “Survival is dangled like a mirage.”

Gaza’s Aid Lifeline Is Failing

The warning comes amid a deepening humanitarian collapse, 21 months into the conflict ignited by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel. Since then, 59,106 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed, according to the Gaza health ministry. In Israel, 1,219 people lost their lives in the initial assault.

Despite promises of aid, UN officials report that over 1,000 Palestinians have been killed while trying to access food since the U.S.- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation began operating in late May,  sidelining the previously established UN-led mechanisms.

NGOs say warehouses full of food and supplies are just outside Gaza’s borders, but those goods are not moving. Even aid already inside the Strip is not being distributed because of operational restrictions, security risks, or political interference.

Children Dying of Hunger

The director of Gaza’s largest hospital delivered perhaps the most haunting update yet: 21 children have died from malnutrition and starvation in just the past three days. Aid groups warn that unless land crossings are opened and UN-led aid deliveries are fully restored, more preventable deaths will follow.

US Diplomacy Amid Stalemate Talks

The NGO warning precedes a diplomatic push by U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff, who is heading to Europe and possibly the Middle East, to discuss a new ceasefire plan and aid corridor. “We’re hopeful that a humanitarian corridor can be agreed to by both sides,” said U.S. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce.

But ceasefire talks in Doha, involving Israel, Hamas, the U.S., Qatar and Egypt, have stalled. More than two weeks of negotiations have produced no breakthroughs, while conditions in Gaza grow increasingly dire by the day.

International Pressure Mounts

As the humanitarian system teeters, pressure is building. Over two dozen Western nations have called for an immediate end to the war, warning that suffering in Gaza has reached “new depths.”

UN Secretary-General António Guterres described the current situation as a “horror without parallel in recent years.”

“The System Cannot Run on False Promises”

In their plea, aid groups were unequivocal: “The humanitarian system cannot run on false promises. Humanitarians cannot operate on shifting timelines or wait for political commitments that fail to deliver access.”

Their message is clear: without an immediate ceasefire, the full opening of all land crossings, and a return to a reliable UN-led aid mechanism, the people of Gaza will continue to starve.

And with that, the world is faced with a stark choice, act now or bear witness to an avoidable humanitarian tragedy.

{Source: IOL}

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