GazaHerald – The humanitarian aid reaching Gaza is woefully insufficient and failing to address even the most basic needs of a population facing starvation, disease, and the total collapse of healthcare, according to officials and humanitarian workers on the ground.
Dr. Mohammed Abu Afash, Director of Medical Relief in Gaza, described the incoming aid as negligible.
“The aid entering Gaza is not enough to feed 1 percent of the Strip’s population,” he said, warning that cases of malnutrition are surging while essential food supplies have been unavailable for months.
Abu Afash added that clean water is nearly nonexistent and that the already shattered healthcare system is now overwhelmed by the spread of disease.
“The amount of clean water in the Gaza Strip does not meet the needs of the population,” he said. “The health system has collapsed under pressure.”
He called for urgent and protected humanitarian corridors to deliver life-saving supplies to the population under siege.
United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) media advisor Adnan Abu Hasna echoed the call for immediate action, calling for the safe management of distribution points by UNRWA staff and the entry of at least 600 aid trucks per day.
According to Abu Hasna, Israel is permitting only 30 to 40 aid trucks into Gaza, and even those are forced to use unsafe roads under threat of Israeli fire.
As the siege continues, the humanitarian toll is mounting rapidly. On Sunday, the Gaza Ministry of Health confirmed the deaths of six more Palestinians from starvation, bringing the total number of famine-related deaths in the Strip to 175, including 93 children.
Salim Oweis, regional spokesperson for UNICEF, reported that over 5,000 children in Gaza were suffering from malnutrition in just the first half of July. He stressed the urgent need to expedite the entry of diverse and sustained aid shipments to the Strip.
The spokesperson for the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Khalil Al-Daqran, said that Israeli officials were purposefully using starvation as a weapon. “The occupation authorities are continuing their policy of starvation in Gaza and preventing the arrival of any aid,” he said.
Since October 7, 2023, Israel’s genocide in Gaza has involved not only relentless bombing but also a policy of systematic starvation. On March 2, Israel further tightened its siege by closing all crossings to humanitarian, relief, and medical aid, cutting off lifelines for a population already at the brink.
According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, more than 210,000 Palestinians have been killed or wounded since the start of the genocide, with most of the victims being children and women. Over 9,000 remain missing beneath the rubble. Hundreds of thousands have been displaced, and famine continues to claim more lives each day.
