More than 100 humanitarian organizations have reported that a "mass famine" is spreading in the Gaza Strip and that their workers are also suffering severely from food shortages.
In a statement , the 111 signatories, including Doctors Without Borders (MSF), Save the Children and Oxfam, warned that “our colleagues and those we serve are dying.”
“As the Israeli government’s siege starves the people of Gaza, aid workers are joining the same food lines, risking being shot just to feed their families,” the statement read.
The NGOs are calling for an "immediate and negotiated" ceasefire, the opening of all border crossings, and the free flow of aid through UN-led mechanisms.
Yesterday, the United Nations said that Israeli forces have killed more than 1,000 Palestinians trying to obtain food aid since the US- and Israeli-backed Humanitarian Foundation for Gaza began operations in late May, effectively sidelining the current UN-led system. A "horror unprecedented in recent history," Guterres said.
Israel says humanitarian aid is allowed to enter Gaza and accuses Hamas of exploiting civilian suffering, including by stealing food to sell at inflated prices or shooting those waiting for aid.
“The images coming from Gaza are unbearable, it must end now,” thundered yesterday the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen .
(Unioneonline/vl)
