Israel’s 11-week-long sea, air and land blockade on Gaza has caused a humanitarian catastrophe. Therefore, media reports indicate that the region is currently on the verge of famine. In response to the escalating crisis, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) is attempting to emerge as the primary aid provider. The last few weeks have turned a carefully stage-managed process into farce. Tens of thousands of desperate Palestinians have stormed GHF sites and a United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warehouse to find food and other essential items.
The blockade, which has consistently limited access to food, medical supplies, and all other necessary goods to a catastrophic extent, has made survival impossible for many Gazans. The desperate need for food has forced thousands of people into long lines that have flooded distribution sites in acts of desperation. Eyewitnesses saw apocalyptic scenes in Deir Al-Balah, central Gaza. “Hordes of hungry people” stormed a UN food distribution site looking for supplies.
As aid distribution fails, people have had to snatch bags of food and flour where they could find them. Photographs from an open-air bazaar in Zeitoun, in northern Gaza, depict scenes of rampant looting. More than anything, this underscores the lengths people go to when they’re starving.
In response to these burgeoning masses, security forces have responded with overwhelming violence. Nightsticks aren’t the only thing they’re using to intimidate residents waiting in line for food outside GHF sites. These confrontations serve to highlight the dangerous situation civilians find themselves in during times of war and violence. GHF strongly contends that there have been no fatalities at any of GHF’s locations, including through all of those challenges. They call the opposite accounts false and report them as provocation by Hamas.
The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, has openly criticized Israel’s military actions in Gaza. She stated that “Israel’s strikes in Gaza go beyond what is necessary to fight Hamas,” a sentiment echoed by other international observers. The criticism continues to grow, even from Germany. Once considered one of Israel’s most steadfast allies in Europe, Germany has recently come under fire for its still-consistent support of Israel during the current humanitarian crisis.
Of the 900 trucks that have entered into Gaza, only 600 have been unloaded on the Gaza side. There are still hundreds of trucks yet to be delivered. The United Nations has encountered historic challenges in its attempt to deliver and coordinate the distribution of humanitarian assistance. Officials from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) noted that “the conditions for us to deliver aid safely and at scale are absent,” further complicating the relief efforts.
The GHF’s first aid site in southern Gaza was overwhelmed by crowds eager for assistance, with some individuals tearing down fencing and climbing over crowd control barriers. This bleak, apocalyptic atmosphere is a testament to the persistent suffering and hunger engulfing the lives of the people of Gaza. Local resident Omar Abd Rabbo described the scene as filled with “chaos and random jostling,” encapsulating the desperation that defines daily life in the enclave.
As a result, the climate has grown increasingly hostile. The Israeli military has now issued a blanket evacuation order that covers the entirety of northern and eastern Gaza. This directive has caused unnecessary alarm and fear among residents, many of whom were already suffering from food insecurity and rampant violence.
Local leaders and residents have reacted with shock and dismay as the scenario has developed. One individual, Hammad, voiced his despair by stating, “This is a big lie, a trap and betrayal, and this is only for thieves and merchants… People do not benefit anything.” Such sentiments are palpable among all those suffering from the false recovery that frames today’s ongoing crisis.
