Joint statement: Israel’s siege now blocks 83% of food aid reaching Gaza, new data reveals

Only 17 out of 36 hospitals remain partially functional

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.)

Calling on governments to end aid obstruction

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. 

Exacerbating an already catastrophic situation

Lilu Thapa, Danish Refugee Council Middle East Executive Director, said:  

"Aid obstruction in Gaza is exacerbating an already catastrophic situation. The use of explosive weapons in densely populated areas is inflicting immense suffering on civilians, with those who are not killed or seriously injured forced to repeatedly flee in search of safety that does not exist anywhere in Gaza. Obstruction of aid only causes further suffering, preventing the most basic relief reaching people in dire need. Aid must urgently be allowed into and across Gaza to alleviate immediate suffering whilst a ceasefire remains the only way to guarantee the safety of civilians.” 

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.”