DaysofPal – More than 100 humanitarian organizations have accused Israel of deliberately obstructing the flow of life-saving aid into the Gaza Strip, leaving vast quantities of relief supplies stranded in warehouses in Jordan and Egypt. At the same time, hunger deepens in the besieged territory.
In a joint statement released on Thursday, the aid groups said trucks loaded with food, medicine, water, and temporary shelters have been massing for weeks on Gaza’s borders, blocked by Israel’s stringent new rules.
These measures, they said, have effectively denied entry to most critical supplies despite repeated claims from Israeli authorities that there is “no limit” on aid entering Gaza.
“Most major international NGOs have been unable to deliver a single truck of life-saving supplies since 2 March,” the statement read.
“Instead of clearing the growing backlog of goods, Israeli authorities have rejected requests from dozens of NGOs to bring in life-saving goods, citing that these organizations are ‘not authorized to deliver aid.”
The signatories, including Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and Oxfam, said that even long-established relief groups with decades of experience in Gaza are now being told they are not “authorized” to deliver aid, due to newly imposed “registration rules” and so-called “security” vetting.
The consequences, they warned, are catastrophic: hospitals have been stripped of basic supplies, and children, the elderly, and people with disabilities are dying from hunger and treatable illnesses.
Bushra Khalidi, Oxfam’s policy lead, said her organization alone has more than $2.5 million worth of humanitarian supplies blocked from entry by Israeli authorities.
MSF’s emergency coordinator in Gaza, Aitor Zabalgogeazkoa, described the restrictions as part of a “militarized food distribution scheme” run through the notorious GHF, which he said has “weaponized starvation and curated suffering.”
“Distributions at GHF sites have resulted in extreme levels of violence and killings, primarily of young Palestinian men, but also of women and children, who have gone to the sites in the hope of receiving food,” Zabalgogeazkoa said.
Since May, at least 859 Palestinians have been killed while attempting to reach aid in the vicinity of these locations.
The aid groups are calling for immediate pressure on Israel to end what they describe as the “weaponization of aid,” dismantle bureaucratic barriers, and allow unconditional delivery of humanitarian relief into Gaza.
Israel’s Diaspora Minister Amichai Chikli, who helped shape the new rules, told AFP that registration for humanitarian organizations can be denied if their activities are deemed to “deny the democratic character of Israel” or “promote delegitimization campaigns,” such as the movement to boycott Israel over its war on Gaza.
The joint outcry comes as Israeli forces launch a new offensive to seize Gaza City. This move is expected to displace more than a million Palestinians and push them south into what aid groups call “concentration zones,” where conditions are already dire.
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