Immediate action needed for Gazans enduring famine
“Starve to death, or be prepared to be killed trying to get food?” This is the decision that people in Gaza are being forced to make every day.
Two months have passed since the Israeli government-managed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) began distributing food at the end of May. However, the result has been far removed from the principles of humanitarian aid. Many people walk 10 miles or more from central and northern Gaza to collect food at GHF’s distribution points in Rafah in the south. As they rush to collect food packets, the Israeli military opens fire. More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed this way in the last two months.
Peace Winds and local partner organizations are working together to distribute food, water, and hygiene supplies to vulnerable populations, such as those with disabilities. A staff member from one partner organization told us the story of Maria, a 40-year-old mother of seven children.
On July 24, Maria was shot in the head by Israeli forces at a GHF distribution center in Rafah, where she had gone to collect food. Gaza authorities had called for only women to collect food from the distribution center that day.
Maria lost her husband a few months before and had been solely responsible for feeding her children amidst looming famine and Israeli military attacks. Her children have endured hunger for weeks, and Maria, determined to risk her life to save her children, headed to a distribution point. However, instead of returning to her children with bags of food, Maria returned covered in blood in a body bag.
Like Maria, the people of Gaza are so desperate that they have no choice but to risk their lives to go to GHF distribution sites to try to get food. The UN reports that almost the entire population of the Gaza Strip (approximately 2.1 million people) is food insecure, and more than half are malnourished and at risk of death. The staff member from our partner organization who spoke to Maria told us, “The only food I get a day is a bowl of soup and a few supplements, but even so, I’m one of the lucky ones. There are many people who cannot even get a bowl of soup.”
Israeli authorities closed checkpoints throughout Gaza in early March, preventing nearly all supplies from entering and dramatically worsening the humanitarian crisis. Voices of condemnation have risen from the international community in response; statements from 28 countries–including Japan and the EU–and from more than 100 aid organizations, including Peace Winds, have called for an immediate ceasefire and an end to the blockade on humanitarian supplies.
Peace Winds has been providing support to Palestinians affected by this crisis since October 2023. From May to June this year, we distributed food and hygiene products to more than 12,500 families in central and southern Gaza, and we have also provided water to approximately 19,000 people in evacuation centers in Gaza City since August of last year.
One recipient of a Peace Winds food package said, “I injured my right leg during the war and it left me disabled, unable to walk. I have had to flee more than five times, from Jabalia in the north to the south, and my house was completely destroyed. I am now living in a tent in a refugee camp in Gaza City. I also lost my job as a carpenter, so I have no source of income and am completely dependent on intermittent humanitarian aid. For the past three months, vegetables have been too expensive for me to buy. My children are always hungry.”
The beauty and vibrancy that once filled Gaza has been replaced by hunger and hardship, and while international condemnation of these massacres has increased, it feels as though the world is paying less and less attention. We ask you once again not to forget about this tragedy or the people who are struggling to survive it. We also call on the international community to redouble its efforts to achieve an immediate and permanent ceasefire and ensure that all people throughout Gaza receive assistance in accordance with humanitarian principles.
Donations to Peace Winds’ work in Gaza will help us continue to provide food, water, and other assistance to those in need. Learn more about our work here.