Phone Calls from Palestine

As the Israeli government’s siege starves the people of Gaza, aid workers are now joining the same food lines

With supplies now totally depleted, humanitarian organisations are witnessing their own colleagues and partners waste away before their eyes.

“Each morning, the same question echoes across Gaza: will I eat today?” said one agency representative.

Just outside Gaza, in warehouses – and even within Gaza itself – tons of food, clean water, medical supplies, shelter items and fuel sit untouched with humanitarian organisations blocked from accessing or delivering them.

Illnesses, such as acute watery diarrhoea, are spreading; markets are empty; waste is piling up, and adults are collapsing on the streets from hunger and dehydration.

Charities, such as Humanity & Inclusion, say the UN-led humanitarian system has not failed, it has been prevented from functioning.

It says humanitarian agencies have the capacity and supplies to respond at scale but, with access denied, are blocked from reaching those in need, including their own exhausted and starved teams.

“Just like more than two million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, we humanitarian workers are also being starved, displaced and killed,” says Sharaf Al Faqawi, who is Humanity & Inclusion’s area manager for Gaza.

“For nearly two years now, every single day, we must juggle between surviving this war, caring for ourselves and families, and serving the most vulnerable.

“Hunger has reached its peak, with children and babies dying of starvation. 

“There is no food, clean water, medicine, fuel among other basic needs.

“We cannot fully operate or serve those in need because we lack the necessary aid and equipment due to the Israeli blockade, the relentless bombardment, and forced displacement – but also because we, ourselves, are growing weak from hunger and malnutrition. 

“You can see the impact on their bodies and in their eyes. Our staff are becoming dizzy, weak, and drained of energy.

“Although they remain committed to their mission, they can no longer focus or work as they did before.

“Many of our activities require physical movement and effort, such as our risk awareness sessions on explosive ordnance and our physical rehabilitation work.

“The coming days are very critical. If this situation persists, we could see some of our aid workers collapsing while on duty.” 

The charity says Palestinians are trapped in a cycle of hope and heartbreak, waiting for help and ceasefires – only to wake up to worsening conditions.

Meanwhile it says the suffering is not just physical, but psychological.

It says that survival is dangled like a mirage and the humanitarian system cannot run on false promises.

When it comes to its own volunteers, the charity says humanitarians cannot operate on shifting timelines or wait for political commitments that fail to deliver access.

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) echoes these sentiments.

“The latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) alert –the global system for assessing the severity of hunger and malnutrition—confirms that famine thresholds have now been surpassed in Gaza City and that the worst-case scenario is unfolding across much of the Gaza Strip.

“It’s a devastating but entirely predictable confirmation of what the IRC and the wider humanitarian community have long warned: Israel’s restrictions on aid have created the conditions for famine, and the window to prevent mass death is rapidly closing.

“IPC Level 5 indicates catastrophic levels of food insecurity, where starvation, acute malnutrition, and mortality are widespread.

“The latest data indicates these thresholds are being met for food consumption in most of Gaza and for acute malnutrition in Gaza City.

“This is not a crisis that can be met with half-measures. Only full, safe, and sustained humanitarian access granted immediately—through land routes, at scale—can avert a catastrophic loss of life.

“Airdrops and brief humanitarian pauses offer only symbolic relief and cannot meet the scale or urgency of need.

“The evidence of widespread hunger, untreated malnutrition, and rising mortality has been visible for weeks.

“As starvation spreads, families, including IRC staff themselves, are surviving on lentil water, wild herbs, or nothing at all.

““It bears repeating that, by the time famine is formally declared, people have already died.

“The evidence of widespread hunger, untreated malnutrition, and rising mortality has been visible for weeks.

“What is needed now is immediate action to flood Gaza with aid.”