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Urgent joint statement: Northern Gaza is being erased

Oxfam and 37 other humanitarian organisations are raising the alarm about the catastrophic situation in Northern Gaza

The Israeli forces’ assault on Gaza has escalated to a horrifying level of atrocity. Northern Gaza is being wiped off the map. Under the guise of “evacuation,” Israeli forces have ordered the forced displacement of an estimated 400,000 Palestinians trapped in northern Gaza, including Gaza City. This is not an evacuation—this is forced displacement under gunfire. Since 1 October, no food has been allowed into the area, and civilians are being starved and bombed in their homes and their tents. 

Hospitals, already overwhelmed, are being ordered to evacuate. They are running out of fuel and essential supplies, while doctors and nurses battle to save lives with what little they have left. The wounded flood in – children, older people, victims of Israeli airstrikes – but with no resources to treat them. 

Dr. Mohammed Salha, acting director of Al-Awda Hospital in northern Gaza, described the dire situation: “The Israeli military has contacted us more than once to evacuate the hospital… [All] the departments are full of wounded people and we are discharging even the wounded who have minor or moderate injuries, because we do not have [enough] beds for them. I [told the Israeli military] clearly that we would not evacuate the hospital unless there are ambulances that can preserve the lives of the wounded people we have and reach another hospital that provides better service to the wounded.” 

The world cannot continue to stand by as the Israeli government commits these atrocities. Global leaders have both a legal and moral duty to act now. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has ordered Israel to take all measures within its power to prevent the commission of all acts within the scope of Article II of the Genocide Convention including “killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; and imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group”. There is no evidence that Israel has adhered to these orders, and the killing of Palestinians has only intensified. 

Any attempt to alter the territorial integrity of Gaza constitutes a blatant violation of international law. This is especially egregious in light of the recent ICJ advisory opinion, which significantly heightens the obligation of third states to take decisive action. Failure to do so risks their complicity in perpetuating the illegal occupation. 

All parties must allow unimpeded access for humanitarian organisations to deliver aid based on need, without restricting types, volumes, or locations. Aid delivery must remain impartial and independent of military objectives to prevent its instrumentalisation or politicisation. Civilians must not be forced to flee to receive aid; those choosing to stay in their homes must be protected under international law. 

We demand an immediate ceasefire and an end to Israel’s illegal occupation. Global leaders must act in line with the UN General Assembly Resolution on the ICJ Advisory Opinion and fulfil their obligation not to facilitate or support Israel’s illegal occupation. Third states must halt now the transfer of all weapons, parts and ammunition that could be used to commit further violations of international humanitarian law.

This is not a time for silence – this is a time for action. The people of Gaza cannot wait. The world must intervene now before more innocent lives are lost. 

Notes to editors

The forcible transfer of Palestinian civilians in Gaza is a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention and does not amount to a permissible evacuation. Relocation areas have not provided safety, adequate shelter or essential services, and there has also been no guarantee that displaced populations will be able to return once hostilities end. 

Signatories:

  1. ActionAid 
  2. Action For Humanity 
  3. Afri (Action from Ireland) 
  4. Amos Trust 
  5. Bloody Sunday Trust 
  6. Centre for Global Education 
  7. CESVI 
  8. Children Not Numbers 
  9. Christian Aid 
  10. Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP) 
  11. Comhlamh Justice for Palestine 
  12. Council for Arab-British Understanding (Caabu) 
  13. Embrace the Middle East 
  14. Feminist Humanitarian Network (FHN) 
  15. Gender Action for Peace and Security (GAPS) 
  16. Global Justice Now 
  17. HelpAge International 
  18. Interpal 
  19. Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign 
  20. Islamic Relief 
  21. KinderUSA 
  22. Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) 
  23. Médecins du Monde Spain 
  24. Middle East Children’s Alliance 
  25. Muslim Aid 
  26. Novact Institute for Nonviolence 
  27. Oxfam 
  28. Plan International Jordan 
  29. Sabeel-Kairos UK 
  30. Sadaka-The Ireland Palestine Alliance 
  31. TDH Italy 
  32. Trócaire 
  33. Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union/ Aontas Mac Léinn Choláiste na Tríonóide (TCDSU/AMLCT) 
  34. Vento di Terra 
  35. War Child 
  36. War on Want 
  37. WeWorld 
  38. Welfare Association 

Contact information

Spokespersons are available for interviews. Please contact:

Oxfam Media office | Media.OPTI@oxfam.org  

For updates, please follow @NewsFromOxfam and @OxfamJerusalem. 

Lebanon struggles to cope with Israel’s military invasion

The Lebanese authorities, communities and humanitarian agencies are struggling to shelter and provide the necessities of life to over one million people fleeing Israel’s airstrikes and invasion to the south, Oxfam said today. 

Oxfam is working with local partners in Lebanon and alongside other aid agencies as part of the government’s humanitarian response plan following Israel’s invasion of Southern Lebanon and aerial bombardment. 

Oxfam assessments in shelters across Lebanon have found people most need mattresses, bedding, and cooking and sanitation items. Women also need sanitary pads, towels, and underwear. Oxfam and partners have started distributing some of this aid as well as water. 

Gheith Bittar, Executive Director for Oxfam partner SHIFT – Social Innovation Hub, said more displaced people are arriving by the day and he fears shelters may buckle under the strain.  

 “The shelters are not ready to host the number of IDPs we are taking on and 629 are already full. They are public schools that are not equipped to be shelters and we are facing problems. For example, we don’t have hot water for showers. We will get to a point where we won’t be able to cope. Without funds, we cannot sustain our support to the shelters. The ground invasion will only increase the number of IDPs, and we have already seen an increase in the number of displaced people on a daily basis with the continuous bombardment. The situation will only get worse as winter approaches. 

 “People are coming to us traumatised. Most of them have lost their houses and relatives. Some of them were scared because of the scale of bombardment as they were fleeing, and many others because of their fear of the unknown coming to a new city. People are suffering, they have many, many, issues to think about,” 

Oxfam says without a ceasefire the greenlight by Israel to a ground invasion in southern Lebanon will likely lead to a further escalation of the conflict and fighting, that will cause even more destruction of communities and inflame an already volatile region. 

“The ground invasion and bombardment that includes Beirut and the southern suburbs will create a serious challenge for the humanitarian system in a few short days. People are being forced to flee with little to no notice, and often having to leave everything behind to shelters that are inadequate or sharing crowded homes with few essential supplies. None know when they can return. Without a ceasefire the number of people desperately in need will only grow, as will their needs. The shelter system is set to collapse if there is no peace on the horizon,” said Oxfam’s Lebanon Country Director, Bachir Ayoub. 

 “The needs of people in Lebanon who’ve been injured, traumatised and displaced, in fear of what the future might hold for them, are already huge. No other solution other than a ceasefire can alleviate the crisis they are facing,” Ayoub said. 

 There must be an end to this violence. All parties must stop fighting. We need safe space to get people the aid they need,” he said.  

Notes to editors:

  • Oxfam has worked in Lebanon since 1993, in partnership with local organisations, to support disadvantaged people with cash, clean water, and proper sanitation, as well as income-generating opportunities, advocating for women’s rights and reproductive health services, and renewable energy solutions.   
  • We also work with Syrian and Palestinian refugees, as well as Lebanese communities, including people with disabilities and migrant workers.
  • We work with 30 local partner organisations in North Lebanon, the Bekaa Valley, and Beirut who deeply understand the needs of the communities they are part of. 
  • Over the past decade, we have responded to the multiple crises Lebanon has faced, including the Syria crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, the Beirut Blast, the Economic crisis, the 2022 cholera outbreak, and violent conflicts.   

Contact information:

Rachel Schaevitz — rachel.schaevitz@oxfam.org.nz

Oxfam responds to Lebanon Crisis

Oxfam is responding to the escalating crisis in Lebanon, providing essential support to the hundreds of thousands of people who have been forced to flee as Israeli airstrikes bombard their homes and communities. The influx of internally displaced people, primarily from southern Lebanon, will quickly create disastrous conditions for local communities, beyond the ability of an overloaded international humanitarian system to properly meet. 

Oxfam and our partners are supporting internally displaced people in shelters in Beirut, Mount Lebanon and North Lebanon with clean water and sanitation, emergency cash, food, and hygiene and menstrual hygiene kits.  

Oxfam’s Lebanon country director Bachir Ayoub said the country can ill afford this on top of existing crises.  

“This conflict was predictable and avoidable. It is the result of the failure to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza. For decades, the people of Lebanon have endured one crisis after another without getting the opportunity to fully recover. This latest emergency will only deepen the existing challenges facing the people of Lebanon and further destabilize an already volatile region.” 

The international community must condemn this escalation and take bold action to stop it now. Israel continues to act with impunity and it must be held to account for its actions in both Lebanon and Gaza. All parties must abide by international humanitarian law and held to account where potential violations may be involved.  

The spread of hostilities into Lebanon has inflicted immense damage on civilian infrastructure and led to a tragic loss of life. Lebanon and the region cannot afford to bear the weight of this crisis. This broader regional escalation underscores the urgent need for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza.  

Notes to editors:

  • Oxfam has worked in Lebanon since 1993, in partnership with local organisations, to support disadvantaged people with cash, clean water, and proper sanitation, as well as income-generating opportunities, advocating for women’s rights and reproductive health services, and renewable energy solutions.   
  • We also work with Syrian and Palestinian refugees, as well as Lebanese communities, including people with disabilities and migrant workers.
  • We work with 30 local partner organisations in North Lebanon, the Bekaa Valley, and Beirut who deeply understand the needs of the communities they are part of. 
  • Over the past decade, we have responded to the multiple crises Lebanon has faced, including the Syria crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, the Beirut Blast, the Economic crisis, the 2022 cholera outbreak, and violent conflicts.   

Contact information:

Rachel Schaevitz — rachel.schaevitz@oxfam.org.nz

World’s top 1% own more wealth than 95% of humanity

  • Over a third of world’s biggest 50 corporations —worth $13.3 trillion— now run by a billionaire or has a billionaire as a principal shareholder.
  • Global South countries own just 31 percent of global wealth, despite being home to 79 percent of global population.
  • Oxfam urges multilateral action to advance new global framework on tax, cancel debts and rewrite intellectual property rules for pandemics.

The richest 1 percent have more wealth than the bottom 95 percent of the world’s population put together, new Oxfam analysis of UBS data reveals today ahead of the annual UN High-Level General Debate.

 

Billionaires are exerting new levels of control over economies, with a billionaire either running or the principal shareholder of more than a third of the world’s top 50 corporations. The combined market capitalization of these corporations is $13.3 trillion.

 

Oxfam’s briefing paper “Multilateralism in an Era of Global Oligarchy” warns that multilateral efforts to respond to critical global challenges, including the climate crisis and persistent poverty and inequality, are being undermined by the ultra-wealthy and mega-corporations fueling inequality within and between countries.

 

Despite being home to 79 percent of the world’s population, Global South countries own just 31 percent of global wealth.

 

“The shadow of global oligarchy hangs over this year’s UN General Assembly. The ultra-wealthy and the mega-corporations they control are shaping global rules to serve their interests at the expense of people everywhere. The iconic UN podium is increasingly feeling diminished in a world in which billionaires are calling the shots,” said Amitabh Behar, Oxfam International’s Executive Director.

 

The paper describes a “movement toward a global oligarchy,” where the ultra-rich, often through their increasingly monopolistic corporations, shape global political decision-making and rules to enrich themselves while thwarting vital global progress.

 

The top 1 percent own 43 percent of all global financial assets. Just two corporations control 40 percent of the global seed market. The “big three” US-based asset managers —BlackRock, State Street, and Vanguard— hold $20 trillion in assets, close to one-fifth of all investable assets in the world.

 

“While we often hear about great power rivalries undermining multilateralism —it is clear that extreme inequality is playing a massive role. In recent years the ultra-wealthy and powerful corporations have used their vast influence to undermine efforts to solve major global problems such as tackling tax dodging, making Covid-19 vaccines available to the world and canceling the albatross of sovereign debt,” said Behar.

 

Oxfam details three recent examples of extreme inequality eroding multilateral efforts —and where civil society and Global South leaders have offered inequality-busting solutions:

 

  • Powerful corporations undermining tax cooperation. The OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework on Base Erosion and Profit Sharing (BEPS) fell short of realizing its potential, with new rules for profit allocation that will deliver only tiny extra revenues for lower-income countries of as little as 0.026 percent of their GDP. The exclusion of financial services from OECD rules is a carve-out attributed to lobbying from countries with large banking and financial sectors. Global South countries, led by African countries, are instead advancing negotiations for a fairer tax convention at the UN that, along with Brazil’s leadership at the G20, offer a pathway for fairly taxing the super-rich and mega-corporations.
  • Big Pharma resisting efforts to break up their monopolies over Covid-19 vaccine technologies to unlock supply. Monopoly control over vaccine production was highly profitable during the pandemic. In 2021 alone, the seven largest manufacturers generated an estimated $50 billion in net profit from the sale of Covid-19 vaccines, resulting in huge payouts to rich shareholders and the emergence of new vaccine billionaires. The CEO of Pfizer Albert Bourla described the call to share Covid-19 vaccine technologies as “dangerous nonsense.” The failure to equitably share vaccines contributed to as many as 1.3 million excess deaths worldwide. A new pandemic treaty with strong provisions to suspend patents and allow for easier transfers of technology offers promise.
  • Private creditors exacerbating the global debt crisis. Low-income countries spend nearly 40 percent of their annual budgets on debt service, over 60 percent more than they spend on education, health, and social protection combined. Over half of low- and middle-income countries’ external debt is owed to private lenders like banks and hedge funds. Some of these creditors are “vulture funds,” which purchase distressed debt on the cheap and exploit legal mechanisms to be repaid in full, reaping outsized profits.

“Only a solidarity-based multilateralism can reverse the movement toward global oligarchy. Some world leaders are showing they recognize this and are stepping up to fight inequality —but we need many more to demonstrate this courage,” said Behar.

“Ultimately, a fairer world and international order —where corporations pay their fair share, global public health is prioritized, and where all countries can invest in their own people— benefits us all. This is not new, and it’s long what leaders especially from the Global South have called for.” 

 

ENDS

 

Notes to editors

 

Download Oxfam’s briefing paper “Multilateralism in an Era of Global Oligarchy.”.

 

The pandemic has created at least 40 new pharmaceutical billionaires.

 

Oxfam’s recent analysis of more than 180 of the largest US public corporations shows that they collectively spent $746 million on lobbying in 2022, an average of $4.1 million each.

 

Contact information:

Rachel Schaevitz — rachel.schaevitz@oxfam.org.nz

 

Oxfam calls for reform of the UN Security Council

Ahead of the UN Summit for the Future, Oxfam calls for reform of the UN Security Council to stop the “Permanent Five” from being their own “judge and jury”  

The UN Security Council (UNSC) is failing people living in conflict, with Russia and the United States particularly responsible for abusing their veto power which is blocking progress toward peace in Ukraine, Syria, and the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel. 

A new Oxfam report, Vetoing Humanity, studied 23 of the world’s most protracted conflicts over the past decade, including Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Libya, Niger, the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, Venezuela and Yemen, and found that 27 of the 30 UNSC vetoes cast on these conflicts were on OPT, Syria and Ukraine.  

The report concludes that the five permanent members of the UNSC (the P5) are exploiting their exclusive voting and negotiating powers to suit their own geopolitical interests. In doing so, they are undermining the Council’s ability to maintain international peace and security.  

More than a million people have been killed in these 23 conflicts alone and more than 230 million people are today in urgent need of aid – an increase of over 50 percent since 2015. 

“China, France, Russia, the UK and the US took responsibility for global security at the UNSC in what is now a bygone colonial age. The contradictions of their acting as judge and jury of their own military alliances, interests and adventures are incompatible with a world seeking peace and justice for all,” said Oxfam International Executive Director Amitabh Behar.  

For instance, in 2023 Russia vetoed a nine-month extension of cross-border assistance to Northern Syria which left 4.1 million people with little or no access to food, water and medicine. Russia has also used its veto four times on Ukraine, despite being an aggressor in the conflict and by UN rules should therefore be disqualified from voting. 

While the UN General Assembly (UNGA) has passed at least 77 resolutions over the last decade supporting Palestinian self-determination and human rights and an end to Israel’s illegal occupation, the US has used its veto power six times to block resolutions perceived as unfavourable to its ally Israel. The US vetoes have created a permissive environment for Israel to expand illegal settlements in the Palestinian territory with impunity.  

“More often than not the Security Council permanent members’ vetoes have contradicted the will of the UN General Assembly, in which all states are represented,” Behar said. 

The report critiques another of the P5’s powers called “pen-holding”, which allows them to lead on negotiations and direct how resolutions are drafted and tabled, or ignored – again, too often according to their own interests. 

While France and the UK have not used their veto last decade, they and the US have held the pen on two-thirds of resolutions relating to the 23 protracted crises studied by Oxfam. The UK holds the pen on Yemen, for example, where it has a colonial legacy and strategic interests to maintain the maritime routes. In 2023, Mali objected to French pen-holding given what it considered “acts of aggression and destabilization” there. 

Many other initiatives are not even written up or tabled because they would inevitability be vetoed, the report says. As a result, the 23 crises studied by Oxfam are being treated in wildly different ways. Nearly half of them have been largely neglected with fewer than five resolutions each over the last decade, including just one on Myanmar and none on Ethiopia or Venezuela. 

On the other hand, the UNSC has passed more nearly 80 on both South Sudan and Sudan, 53 on Somalia and 48 on Libya. None have led to lasting peace. Despite the Democratic Republic of Congo having had 24 UNSC resolutions in the past 10 years, for instance, the UN mission there (MONUSCO) has been hindered by chronic underfunding and lack of coordination. 

“The erratic and self-interested behaviour of UNSC members has contributed to an explosion of humanitarian needs that is now outpacing humanitarian organizations’ ability to respond. This demands a fundamental change of our international security architecture at the very top,” Behar said. 

Globally, the number of people needing humanitarian assistance has risen nearly four times in the last decade, triggering massive funding needs. Between 2014 and 2023, the UN appeal has nearly tripled from $20 billion to over $56 billion – but less than half of this amount was met last year.  

The report is critical of the fact that humanitarian funding remains entirely dependent upon voluntary contributions. In contrast, UN member state funding for peacekeeping operations is mandatory. 

As the Summit of the Future kicks off this week to envision a revitalized UN, Oxfam calls for a wholesale reform of the UN Security Council, including the abolition of the P5’s veto power.  

“We need a new vision for a UN system that meets its original ambitions and made fit for purpose for today’s reality,” Behar said. “A Council that works for the global majority not a powerful few. This starts with renouncing the veto and pen-holding privilege of the P5 and expanding membership to more countries.” 

Notes to the Editors 

  • Read Oxfam’s “Vetoing Humanity” report (Link will go live once embargo is lifted) 
  • Oxfam looked at 23 crises that were listed in the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA)’s “Global Humanitarian Needs Overviews” for at least five consecutive years over the last decade. These are: Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Haiti, Iraq, Libya, Mali, Myanmar, Niger, Nigeria, the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, Venezuela and Yemen. Source: UNOCHA Global Humanitarian Overview 2024 and UNOCHA 2014-2018.   
  • Over the past decade, the UNSC has passed 454 resolutions and vetoed 30 resolutions on these 23 protracted crises. 8 out of 12 resolutions on Palestine and Israel; 15 out of 53 on Syria; 4 out of 6 in Ukraine; one on Venezuela; one on Malia; and one on Yemen, have been vetoed respectively. Sudan and South Sudan have had 79 resolutions passed since 2015. Oxfam’s vetoes calculations are based on UN data and UNSC data. Analysis of UNGA Resolutions is based on UN Dag Hammarskjöld Library. (n.d.). UN General Assembly Resolutions Tables.  
  • Russia and the United States have together cast 75% of the 88 UNSC vetoes since 1989, with the rest by China – neither France nor the UK have used their veto power over that period. Source: For details on UNSC vetoes, see UN Dag Hammarskjöld Library. (n.d.). UN Security Council Meetings & Outcomes Tables: Veto List. Accessed 20 July 2024. For details on approved resolutions see UNSC Resolutions.  
  • 11 of the total 23 protracted crises (48%) had each fewer than five resolutions over the last decade. Source: see above. 
  • Oxfam calculated 1.1 million people died during 2014–23 in the 23 protracted crises using the conflict-level version of the dataset and the best estimates of battle-related deaths (as opposed to the high or the low estimates). Source: The Uppsala University Conflict Data Program Battle Related Deaths dataset version 24.1 
  • Oxfam calculated global funding needs based on the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Financial Tracking Service database coordinated appeals data from 2014 to 2023. Only 43% of the total $54.1bn appeal was met in 2023. 
  •  According to the UN Charter article 27(3), “a party to a dispute shall abstain from voting”.  
  • The number of people in urgent need of humanitarian assistance living in these 23 protracted crises has grown by 157% to 233.5 million in 2024, up from 90.84 in 2015. Source: UNOCHA’s Global Humanitarian Overview (2015) and (2024). 
  • According to UNOCHA, the global number of people in need of humanitarian assistance has risen nearly four times in the last decade – from 77.9m in 2015 to 299.4m in 2024. Source: See above. 
  • According to the Global Report on Food Crises 2024, the number of people experiencing acute or worse levels of hunger across 20 of the 23 countries was 199.6 million. Data from Iraq, Libya and Venezuela were insufficient or did not meet the requirements of the GRFC.  

Contacts 

At UNGA Nesrine Aly / Lauren Hartnett  

Israel’s Siege Blocks 83% of Food Aid, New Data Reveals

15 aid organisations demand international pressure for an immediate ceasefire, arms embargo, and end to Israel’s systematic aid obstruction 

New data has revealed the scale of aid obstruction, and the consequential drastic fall in aid entering Gaza. This is driving a humanitarian disaster, with the entire population of Gaza facing hunger and disease, and almost half a million at risk of starvation.  

While Israeli military attacks on Gaza intensify, lifesaving food, medicine, medical supplies, fuel, and tents have been systematically blocked from entering for almost a year.  

Data analysis by organisations working in Gaza has found that as a consequence of the Israeli government’s obstruction of aid:   

  • 83% of required food aid does not make it into Gaza, up from 34% in 2023.This reduction means people in Gaza have gone from having an average of two meals a day to just one meal every other day. An estimated 50,000 children aged between 6-59 months urgently require treatment for malnutrition by the end of the year. 
  • 65% of the insulin required and half of the required blood supply are not available in Gaza.  
  • Availability of hygiene items has dropped to 15% of the amount available in September 2023. One million women are now going without the hygiene supplies they need.  

A record low average of 69 aid trucks per day entered Gaza in August 2024, compared to 500 per working day last year; which was already not enough to meet people’s needs. In August more than 1 million people did not receive any food rations in southern and central Gaza.  

Now, only 17 out of 36 hospitals remain partially functional. Critical infrastructure such as water networks, sanitation facilities and bread mills have been razed to the ground.  

While humanitarian needs are ever increasing, agencies have detailed six main ways their life-saving aid is systematically obstructed on a daily basis. 

These include the denial of safety, with more than 40,000 Palestinians and nearly 300 aid workers killed since last October; the sharp tightening of a 17-year blockade to a full siege, which prevents aid from entering Gaza; delays and denials which restrict the movement of aid around Gaza; tightly restrictive and unpredictable control of imports; the destruction of public infrastructure such as schools and hospitals; and the displacement of civilians and humanitarian workers (witnessed again in recent displacement orders from the so-called “humanitarian zone” in Deir el-Balah.) 

Ahead of the UN General Assembly in New York this week, aid agencies are calling on governments to demand Israel end aid obstruction and to: 

  • Secure an immediate and lasting ceasefire in Gaza.  
  • Implement an arms embargo and end the export of weapons and military equipment that risk being used in violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law.  
  • Demand compliance with the International Court of Justice’s findings and recommendations, an end to the Israeli government’s siege of Gaza, and heed the call of the ICJ in its advisory opinion to end the occupation of Palestinian territory.  

Jolien Veldwijik, CARE Country Director in the West Bank and Gaza, said:  

“The situation was intolerable long before last October’s escalation and is beyond catastrophic now. Over 11 months, we have reached shocking levels of conflict, displacement, disease and hunger. Yet, aid is still not getting in, and humanitarian workers are risking their lives to do their jobs while attacks and violations of international law intensify. Aid, which is urgently required for 2.2 million people at risk of dying in the coming weeks and months, should never be politicised. We demand an immediate and sustained ceasefire, and the free flow of humanitarian aid into and throughout Gaza.”  

Amjad Al Shawa, the director of the Palestinian NGOs Network (PNGO), an umbrella organisation of 30 Palestinian NGOs and a partner of ActionAid, said: 

 “There is a shortage of all humanitarian items. We are overwhelmed [with] these needs and [these] urgent requirements…People [are] starving due to the shortage of aid…100% of the population depend on humanitarian aid…It’s the worst situation that we [witnessed] during …. the Israel war in Gaza.” 

ENDS  

Notes to editors 

  • A quote pack from people affected by aid obstruction in Gaza 
  • Spokespeople including aid workers on the ground, medical professionals, and humanitarian sector leaders are available for comment and interview on request. 
  • For broadcasters: footage from Gaza is available on request.  

Signed on: 

  1. CARE International 
  2. Save the Children 
  3. ActionAid 
  4. Christian Aid 
  5. War Child 
  6. Islamic Relief 
  7. HelpAge International  
  8. American Friends Service Committee 
  9. Oxfam 
  10. DanChurchAid 
  11. Norwegian Church Aid 
  12. Mennonite Central Committee 
  13. Danish Refugee Council 
  14. Norwegian Refugee Council 
  15. KinderUSA 

 

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Oxfam is a worldwide development organisation that mobilises the power of people against injustice. Oxfam Aotearoa is a registered charity with the New Zealand Charities Register (registration CC24641). Donations are tax refundable.

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