Ten more Palestinians have died of malnutrition today, amid warnings from over 100 NGOs operating in Gaza that “mass starvation” is spreading across the entire strip.
“With supplies now totally depleted, our colleagues and those we serve are wasting away”, said the 111 signatories, which included Médecins Sans Frontières, Save the Children and Oxfam, in a joint open letter.
The organisations were clear that their staff are not just witnessing the humanitarian catastrophe but actually living it: “As the Israeli government’s siege starves the people of Gaza, Palestine, aid workers are now joining the same food lines, risking being shot just to feed their families.”
“Palestinians are trapped in a cycle of hope and heartbreak, waiting for assistance and ceasefires, only to wake up to worsening conditions,” they wrote, adding: “It is not just physical torment, but psychological. Survival is dangled like a mirage”.
The groups called for an immediate negotiated ceasefire and for the free flow of aid into Gaza through UN-led mechanisms.
An Israeli government spokesperson claimed today that there are over 700 aid trucks inside Gaza waiting to be picked up by the UN. But the UN has said that it struggles to get the necessary Israeli authorisation to collect any supplies from crossing points and safely transport them through military zones – or to get guarantees that Israeli forces won’t open fire on civilians who approach its aid lorries.
Doctors, meanwhile, warn that, as the number of patients being admitted to hospitals for symptoms related to malnourishment grows, their ability to provide urgent medical care is being hindered by their own hunger.
“They are in a state of extreme exhaustion. Some have fainted in the operating rooms,” Dr Mohammed Abu Selmia, the director of al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, told The Guardian over the phone, adding that his staff had not received any meals in the past 48 hours.
French news agency, AFP, one of the world’s largest news services, has appealed to the Israeli government to facilitate the immediate evacuation of its freelance journalists from Gaza, declaring that “their situation is now untenable”.
This comes after the AFP’s journalists’ union, the Societe des Journalistes (SDJ), released its own statement on Monday about its distressing contact with colleagues in Gaza. “Their heartbreaking calls for help are now daily”, said the SDJ, adding: “We fear learning of their deaths at any moment”.
It highlighted a recent message from Bashar Taleb, 30, who works as a photographer for the agency, in which he said: “I don’t have the power to cover media anymore. My body is lean and I no longer have the ability to walk”.
The union’s statement continued: “Since AFP was founded in August 1944, we have lost journalists in conflicts, we have had injured and imprisoned colleagues among us, but none of us can recall ever seeing a colleague die of hunger”.
According to the UN, Israeli forces have killed over 1,000 Palestinians seeking aid since the Israel and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation started operations in late May, replacing the longstanding UN-led aid distribution system.
This week, a former lorry driver for the GHF gave a whistleblower account to ITV of the disturbing scenes he had witnessed at distribution sites. Recalling how trigger-happy soldiers, working alongside GHF private contractors, would fire into the crowds of hungry Palestinians, he told ITV: “They are shooting for the sake of shooting a lot of the time”. The GHF has rejected his claims as false.
Against this desperate backdrop, the 111 signatories have ended their letter by warning western nations that “piecemeal arrangements and symbolic gestures, like airdrops or flawed aid deals, serve as a smokescreen for inaction.”
“States can and must save lives”, they conclude, “before there are none left to save”.
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