Public Letter on Starvation of Gaza
26 July 2025, by Eric Zuesse. (All of my recent articles can be seen here.)
Refugees International issued on July 23rd, signed by 115 NGOs and humanitarian organizations, the following notification:
As the Israeli government’s siege starves the people of Gaza, aid workers are now joining the same food lines, risking being shot just to feed their families. With supplies now totally depleted, humanitarian organisations are witnessing their own colleagues and partners waste away [die, be murdered — but indirect passive terminology was preferred, for some reason, perhaps so as “not to offend” their largest donors] before their eyes.
Exactly two months since the Israeli government-controlled scheme, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, began operating, 100+ organizations are sounding the alarm, urging governments to act: open all land crossings; restore the full flow of food, clean water, medical supplies, shelter items, and fuel through a principled, UN-led mechanism; end the siege, and agree to a ceasefire now.
“Each morning, the same question echoes across Gaza: will I eat today?” said one agency representative.
Massacres at food distribution sites in Gaza are occurring near-daily. As of July 13, the UN confirmed 875 Palestinians were killed while seeking food, 201 on aid routes and the rest at distribution points. Thousands more have been injured. Meanwhile, Israeli forces have forcibly displaced nearly two million exhausted Palestinians with the most recent mass displacement order issued on July 20, confining Palestinians to less than 12 per cent of Gaza. WFP warns that current conditions make operations untenable. The starvation of civilians as a method of warfare is a war crime.
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. The Government of Israel’s restrictions, delays, and fragmentation under its total siege have created chaos, starvation, and death. An aid worker providing psychosocial support spoke of the devastating impact on children: “Children tell their parents they want to go to heaven, because at least heaven has food.”
Doctors report record rates of acute malnutrition, especially among children and older people. Illnesses like acute watery diarrhoea are spreading, markets are empty, waste is piling up, and adults are collapsing on the streets from hunger and dehydration. Distributions in Gaza average just 28 trucks a day, far from enough for over two million people, many of whom have gone weeks without assistance.
The UN-led humanitarian system has not failed, it has been prevented from functioning.
Humanitarian agencies have the capacity and supplies to respond at scale. But, with access denied, we are blocked from reaching those in need, including our own exhausted and starved teams. On July 10, the EU and Israel announced steps to scale up aid. But these promises of ‘progress’ ring hollow when there is no real change on the ground. Every day without a sustained flow means more people dying of preventable illnesses. Children starve while waiting for promises that never arrive.
Palestinians are trapped in a cycle of hope and heartbreak, waiting for assistance and ceasefires, only to wake up to worsening conditions. It is not just physical torment, but psychological. Survival is dangled like a mirage. The humanitarian system cannot run on false promises. Humanitarians cannot operate on shifting timelines or wait for political commitments that fail to deliver access.
Governments must stop waiting for permission to act. We cannot continue to hope that current arrangements will work. It is time to take decisive action: demand an immediate and permanent ceasefire; lift all bureaucratic and administrative restrictions; open all land crossings; ensure access to everyone in all of Gaza; reject military-controlled distribution models; restore a principled, UN-led humanitarian response and continue to fund principled and impartial humanitarian organisations. States must pursue concrete measures to end the siege, such as halting the transfer of weapons and ammunition.
Piecemeal arrangements and symbolic gestures, like airdrops or flawed aid deals, serve as a smokescreen for inaction. They cannot replace states’ legal and moral obligations to protect Palestinian civilians and ensure meaningful access at scale. States can and must save lives before there are none left to save.
Signatories:
American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)
A.M. Qattan Foundation
A New Policy
ACT Alliance
Action Against Hunger (ACF)
Action for Humanity
ActionAid International
American Baptist Churches Palestine Justice Network
Amnesty International
Asamblea de Cooperación por la Paz
Associazione Cooperazione e Solidarietà (ACS)
Bystanders No More
Campain
CARE
Caritas Germany
Caritas Internationalis
Caritas Jerusalem
Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD)
Center for Mind-Body Medicine (CMBM)
CESVI Fondazione
Children Not Numbers
Christian Aid
Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP)
CIDSE- International Family of Catholic Social Justice Organisations
Cooperazione Internazionale Sud Sud (CISS)
Council for Arab‐British Understanding (CAABU)
DanChurchAid (DCA)
Danish Refugee Council (DRC)
Development and Peace – Caritas Canada
Doctors against Genocide
Episcopal Peace Fellowship
EuroMed Rights
Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL)
Forum Ziviler Friedensdienst e.V.
Gender Action for Peace and Security
Glia
Global Legal Action Network (GLAN)
Global Witness
Health Workers 4 Palestine
HelpAge International
Human Concern International
Humanity & Inclusion (HI)
Humanity First UK
Indiana Center for Middle East Peace
Insecurity Insight
International Media Support
International NGO Safety Organisation
Islamic Relief
Jahalin Solidarity
Japan International Volunteer Center (JVC)
Justice for All
Kenya Association of Muslim Medical Professionals (KAMMP)
Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation
MedGlobal
Medico International
Medico International Switzerland (medico international schweiz)
Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP)
Mennonite Central Committee (MCC)
Medicine for the People – Belgium (MPLP/GVHV)
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)
Médecins du Monde France
Médecins du Monde Spain
Médecins du Monde Switzerland
Mercy Corps
Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA)
Movement for Peace (MPDL)
Muslim Aid
National Justice and Peace Network in England and Wales
Nonviolence International
Norwegian Aid Committee (NORWAC)
Norwegian Church Aid (NCA)
Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA)
Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC)
Oxfam International
Pax Christi England and Wales
Pax Christi International
Pax Christi Merseyside
Pax Christi USA
Pal Law Commission
Palestinian American Medical Association
Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF)
Palestinian Medical Relief Society (PMRS)
Peace Direct
Peace Winds
Pediatricians for Palestine
People in Need
Plan International
Première Urgence Internationale (PUI)
Progettomondo
Project HOPE
Quaker Palestine Israel Network
Rebuilding Alliance
Refugees International
Saferworld
Sabeel‐Kairos UK
Save the Children (SCI)
Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund
Solidarités International
Støtteforeningen Det Danske Hus i Palæstina
Swiss Church Aid (HEKS/EPER)
Terre des Hommes Italia
Terre des Hommes Lausanne
Terre des Hommes Nederland
The Borgen Project
The Center for Mind-Body Medicine (CMBM)
The Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect (GCR2P)
The International Development and Relief Foundation
The Institute for the Understanding of Anti‐Palestinian Racism
Un Ponte Per (UPP)
United Against Inhumanity (UAI)
War Child Alliance
War Child UK
War on Want
Weltfriedensdienst e.V.
Welthungerhilfe (WHH)
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On that same day, July 23rd, the sub-head for my article that day was “U.S. and German participation in the Gaza genocide was ignored”, and I described how essential the U.S. and German Governments are to this genocide.
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Investigative historian Eric Zuesse’s latest book, AMERICA’S EMPIRE OF EVIL: Hitler’s Posthumous Victory, and Why the Social Sciences Need to Change, is about how America took over the world after World War II in order to enslave it to U.S.-and-allied billionaires. Their cartels extract the world’s wealth by control of not only their ‘news’ media but the social ‘sciences’ — duping the public.
It's excellent to hear that 150 humanitarian agencies are ready, willing and able to support these beleaguered survivors. Unfortunately, the rest of the world seems exceedingly preoccupied, and regretfully these long suffering people seem written off already. I sincerely hope I'm wrong.
At 75 I've been aware of the plight of Palestinians since I was 23, and it is inconceivable that the genocide continues. Yet, starvation and poisoned water look like the dead end of the road.
In 1973 I found myself strolling around the City University of Paris on a lovely spring day. Looking American as I did, I had been asked about Watergate, which I felt wouldn't amount to much. I was also approached, individually, by several young, well dressed, well spoken Arab men. Later on I understood they were on a campaign to raise awareness of Palestinians. They told me how survivors of the "creation" of Israel were living in camps and that they had been for what amounted to my whole life already! As a freedom loving young person, this revelation was incomprehensible. I hadn't thought about the implications of plunking down a new country on top of someone else's.
But here we are with useless main stream media that will never tell the truth, with "leaders" who are fine with the status quo and highly productive weapons makers, none of which has a conscience. Even as words are re-defined in a perverted fashion and laws are written to silence people who are speaking in defense of the victims, the perpetrators of the genocide should be worried in their unprincipled dead hearts. They had a plan; why wasn't it easier? And, yes, governments have to stop asking permission to intervene. They need to actively disrupt the final solution. A positive show of strength could make all the difference. Time grows short.