Gaza Faces Starvation as Aid Struggles to Reach People

Post by : Jyoti Singh

Photo: Reuters

In the Gaza Strip, a serious crisis is unfolding. The United Nations says that nearly one out of every three people living there goes without food for days. Hunger is growing worse, and children and mothers are suffering the most.

The World Food Programme (WFP), which helps feed people in need across the world, has warned that almost 90,000 women and children in Gaza now need emergency care due to hunger and poor nutrition. These people are becoming weaker by the day because they do not have enough to eat.

Recently, the health ministry in Gaza, which is run by Hamas, said that nine more people had died due to hunger. This brings the total number of starvation-related deaths to 122 since the start of the war in October 2023.

Israel controls the border of Gaza and says it has not stopped aid from coming in. However, aid groups and many world leaders say the supplies are either not enough or are not reaching the people who need them the most. Israel says the problem lies with Hamas, the group in control of Gaza.

Because food, medicine, and fuel are so hard to find, many people in Gaza are in deep trouble. Hospitals are running out of medicine. Families are living in tents or damaged buildings. And there is very little clean water or electricity.

In the middle of all this, some countries are trying to help. Britain’s new Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, has said that the UK is willing to join others in dropping food and supplies into Gaza by air. He mentioned that this step came too late, but still promised to help in any way possible.

Sir Keir also said the UK is working quickly to bring sick children from Gaza to British hospitals for treatment. These are children who need urgent care and cannot get it in Gaza because the hospitals are damaged or too full.

There are reports that Jordan and the United Arab Emirates are planning to airdrop aid into Gaza. But Jordan’s military has not yet received permission from Israel to do so. The United Nations has said that air-dropping aid is not the best way to help people. It is often slow, dangerous, and can only bring a small amount of supplies compared to trucks on the ground.

The bigger issue, according to the UN, is that aid needs to flow freely through land routes, not just air. Aid trucks have been stuck or turned away at borders, and many cannot get to the people inside Gaza who are most in need.

France, Germany, and the UK have now come together and asked Israel to stop blocking aid. In a joint message, they called for an end to what they described as a humanitarian disaster. They also said that Israel has a duty under international law to help civilians during war, not harm them by blocking life-saving supplies.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres also spoke strongly. He said he cannot understand how the world has become so indifferent to the suffering in Gaza. He talked about a lack of compassion, a lack of truth, and a lack of humanity. He said that over 1,000 people in Gaza have been killed while simply trying to get food since late May.

That is when a new group backed by the United States and Israel – the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) began delivering aid. It was meant to be an alternative to the regular UN system. But critics say this group has not done enough and might even have made things worse.

A man named Anthony Aguilar, a former American soldier, said he worked for the GHF for two months. He told the BBC that he saw terrible violence during that time. He claimed that the Israeli army and some US contractors fired live bullets, tanks, and mortars at civilians who were trying to collect food.

Aguilar said that in all his years of military work, he had never seen such cruelty. The GHF denied these accusations and said Aguilar was fired for bad behaviour and was simply making false claims.

While this debate continues, peace talks are also facing trouble. The US and Israel recently pulled their teams out of negotiations in Qatar, where talks were being held to try and bring about a ceasefire and exchange of hostages.

US President Donald Trump commented that Hamas doesn’t seem to want peace. He even said they “want to die,” which caused surprise and disagreement from the Hamas side. A senior Hamas official told the BBC that they were still ready to talk and that they were told the negotiations had not ended completely.

The war began after a surprise attack by Hamas on southern Israel on October 7, 2023. In that attack, about 1,200 people in Israel were killed and more than 250 others were taken as hostages. In response, Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza, leading to widespread destruction.

Since then, Gaza has suffered greatly. According to Gaza’s health ministry, more than 59,000 people have died. Many homes have been destroyed, and most families have had to move several times to stay safe. Reports say that over 90% of homes in Gaza are now damaged or unlivable.

Earlier this year, Israel closed off all aid routes into Gaza to pressure Hamas into releasing hostages. That blockade lasted about two months and only lifted slightly after international outcry and warnings of famine.

Even now, supplies coming in are far too few for the huge number of people who need them. Most Gazans are still going hungry, and hospitals are struggling to care for the injured and sick.

On a related note, France announced that it will officially recognise a Palestinian state in September. This has made Israel and the United States very unhappy. Many people in the UK are now also pushing for the British government to do the same. More than one-third of MPs signed a letter asking Prime Minister Starmer to recognise Palestine as a country.

But the Prime Minister said that this decision will not come quickly. He explained that recognising a Palestinian state must be part of a bigger plan, which includes a peaceful two-state solution – meaning both Israel and Palestine can live side-by-side in peace.

As the war continues and hunger worsens, the people of Gaza wait for the world to do more than just talk. They need food, medicine, and most of all, peace