In Gaza, hunger is no longer a fear, it is a daily reality. Hospitals are running out of basic medicines. Parents are skipping meals so their children can eat. And now, over 100 humanitarian organisations are warning that new Israeli rules are making it almost impossible to deliver the food and medicine that could save lives.
In a joint letter, aid groups like Oxfam and Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) say they are being told they cannot bring supplies into Gaza unless they agree to new conditions introduced in March. These rules demand that groups register with Israel, hand over detailed information about Palestinian staff, and avoid statements that could be seen as critical of the Israeli state.
Since 2 March, most of these organisations have not managed to deliver even a single truck of aid. More than 60 requests were rejected in July alone. The result, they say, is devastating.
Sean Carroll, head of the American Near East Refugee Aid (Anera), says his group has $7 million worth of food and medicine—enough rice for six million meals—sitting in warehouses just a few kilometres from Gaza. “It’s blocked in Ashdod,” he says, “while people inside are starving.” Oxfam reports that $2.5 million worth of their supplies have been refused entry.
Israeli officials deny they are restricting aid, saying the rules are there to protect against Hamas taking supplies. Amichai Chikli, Israel’s Diaspora Minister, insists that groups with “no connection to hostile or violent activity” will still be allowed to work.
But aid workers say the reality on the ground tells a different story. Aitor Zabalgogeazkoa from MSF calls the Israeli-run Gaza Humanitarian Foundation a “militarised food distribution scheme” that has “weaponised starvation.” MSF’s secretary-general Chris Lockyear says it is a “death trap,” warning that the humanitarian situation is “hanging on by a thread.”
The numbers are huge: since the war began in October 2023, nearly 62,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to Gaza’s health ministry. Among them, 235 people—including over 100 children—have died from hunger or malnutrition. And with aid still stuck at the border, humanitarian workers fear that number will only grow.
