Starvation or Gunfire - This is Not a Humanitarian Response

Published: Jul 8, 2025 Reading time: 9 minutes

200+ NGOs call for immediate action to end the deadly Israeli distribution scheme (including the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation) in Gaza, revert to the existing UN-led coordination mechanisms, and lift the Israeli government’s blockade on aid and commercial supplies. The 400 aid distribution points operating during the temporary ceasefire across Gaza have now been replaced by just four military-controlled distribution sites, forcing two million people into overcrowded, militarized zones where they face daily gunfire and mass casualties while trying to access food and are denied other life-saving supplies.

Starvation or Gunfire - This is Not a Humanitarian Response
© Photo: CeasefireNOW

Today, Palestinians in Gaza face an impossible choice: starve or risk being shot while trying desperately to reach food to feed their families. The weeks following the launch of the Israeli distribution scheme have been some of the deadliest and most violent since October 2023.

In less than four weeks, more than 500 Palestinians have been killed and almost 4,000 injured just trying to access or distribute food. Israeli forces and armed groups - some reportedly operating with backing from Israeli authorities - now routinely open fire on desperate civilians risking everything just to survive.

The humanitarian system is being deliberately and systematically dismantled by the Government of Israel’s blockade and restrictions, a blockade now being used to justify shutting down nearly all other aid operations in favour of a deadly, military-controlled alternative that neither protects civilians nor meets basic needs. These measures are designed to sustain a cycle of desperation, danger, and death. Experienced humanitarian actors remain ready to deliver life-saving assistance at scale. Yet more than 100 days since Israeli authorities reimposed a near-total blockade on aid and commercial goods, Gaza’s humanitarian conditions are collapsing faster than at any point in the past 20 months.

Under the Israeli government’s new scheme, starved and weakened civilians are being forced to trek for hours through dangerous terrain and active conflict zones, only to face a violent, chaotic race to reach fenced, militarized distribution sites with a single entry point. There, thousands are released into chaotic enclosures to fight for limited food supplies. These areas have become sites of repeated massacres in blatant disregard for international humanitarian law. Orphaned children and caregivers are among the dead, with children harmed in over half of the attacks on civilians at these sites. With Gaza's healthcare system in ruins, many of those shot are left to bleed out alone, beyond the reach of ambulances and denied lifesaving medical care.

Amidst severe hunger and famine-like conditions, many families tell us they are now too weak to compete for food rations. Those who do manage to obtain food often return with only a few basic items - nearly impossible to prepare without clean water or fuel to cook with. Fuel is nearly depleted, bringing critical lifesaving services – including bakeries, water systems, ambulances, and hospitals – to a standstill. Families are sheltering under plastic sheets, operating makeshift kitchens amid the rubble, without fuel, clean water, sanitation, or electricity.

This is not a humanitarian response.

Concentrating more than two million people into further confined areas for a chance to feed their families is not a plan to save lives. For 20 months, more than two million people have been subjected to relentless bombardment, the weaponization of food, water and other aid, repeated forced displacement, and systematic dehumanization - all under the watch of the international community. The Sphere Association, which sets minimum standards for quality humanitarian aid, has warned that the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation's approach does not adhere to core humanitarian standards and principles.

This normalization of suffering must not be allowed to stand. States must reject the false choice between deadly, military-controlled food distributions and total denial of aid. States must uphold their obligations under international humanitarian and human rights law, including prohibitions on forced displacement, indiscriminate attacks, and obstruction of humanitarian aid. States must ensure accountability for grave violations of international law.

We, the undersigned organizations, once again call on all third states to:

● Take concrete measures to end the suffocating siege and uphold the right of civilians in Gaza to safely access aid and receive protection.

● Urge donors not to fund militarized aid schemes that violate international law, do not adhere to humanitarian principles, deepen harm, and risk complicity in atrocities.

● Support the restoration of a unified, UN-led coordination mechanism—grounded in international humanitarian law and inclusive of UNRWA, Palestinian civil society, and the wider humanitarian community—to meet people’s needs.

We reiterate our urgent calls for an immediate and sustained ceasefire, the release of all hostages and arbitrarily detained prisoners, full humanitarian access at scale, and an end to the pervasive impunity that enables these atrocities and denies Palestinians their basic dignity.

Editor’s Note

● On 15 June, the Red Cross field hospital in Al Mawasi received at least 170 patients injured while trying to reach a food distribution site. The following day, 16 June, more than 200 patients arrived at the same facility - the highest number recorded in a single mass casualty incident in Gaza. Of that number, 28 Palestinians were declared dead. A WHO official underscored the deadly pattern: “The recent food distribution initiatives by non-UN actors every time result in mass casualty incidents.”

● These deaths add to the broader toll: since October 2023, over 56,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, including at least 17,000 children.

Undersigned:

1. A New Policy

2. ABCD Bethlehem

3. Abriendo Fronteras Guadalajara

4. ACT Alliance

5. Act Church of Sweden

6. Action Against Hunger (ACF)

7. Action Corps

8. Action for Humanity

9. ActionAid

10. Age International

11. Agricultural Development Association - PARC

12. Al Ard for Agricultural Development

13. Al-Najd Developmental Forum

14. Americans for Justice in Palestine Action (AJP Action)

15. American Friends Service Committee

16. Americares

17. Amnesty International

18. Amos Trust

19. Anera

20. Anti-Slavery International

21. Arab Educational Institute - Pax Christi Bethlehem

22. Arbeitskreis Palästina Brühl-Battir

23. Asamblea de Cooperación por la Paz

24. Asociación de Solidaridad Internacional UNADIKUM

25. Associazione Senzaconfine, Roma

26. Association for Civil Rights Israel (ACRI)

27. Association Switzerland Palestine

28. B’Tselem – The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied

Territories

29. BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights

30. Beesan Charitable Association

31. Bimkom - Planning and Human Rights

32. Bisan Center for Research and Development

33. Botswana Watch Organisation

34. Breaking the Silence

35. Broederlijk Delen

36. CADUS e.V.

37. Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD)

38. Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS)

39. Campaign Against Arms Trade

40. Campaign Against Misrepresentation in Public Affairs Information and the News

(CAMPAIN)

41. CARE

42. Caritas Australia

43. Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand

44. Caritas Germany

45. Caritas International Belgium

46. Caritas Internationalis

47. Caritas Italiana

48. Caritas Jerusalem

49. Caritas Maroc

50. Caritas Middle East and North Africa

51. Caritas Norway

52. Center for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC)

53. Center of Jewish Nonviolence

54. CESIDA - Spanish Coordinator of HIV and AIDS.

55. Charity & Security Network

56. Children Not Numbers

57. Choose Love

58. Christian Aid

59. Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP)

60. CIDSE - International Family of Catholic Social Justice Organisations

61. CISS- Cooperazione Internazionale Sud Sud

62. CNCD-11.11.11

63. codepink

64. Coletivo Shireen Abu Akleh - Jornalistas Contra o Genocídio Shireen (Abu Akleh

Collective - Journalists Against Genocide)

65. Collective Aid

66. Combatants for Peace

67. Comité de Solidaridad con la Causa Árabe

68. Congregations of St Joseph

69. Cooperative Agricultural Association - Palestine

70. Coordination SUD

71. Cordaid

72. Council for Arab-British Understanding (Caabu)

73. Courage of Care Coalition

74. Coventry Friends of Palestine

75. CRID

76. Cultures of Resistance

77. Culture of Solidarity

78. Dalla parte di Abele

79. DanChurchAid

80. Danish Muslim Aid

81. Danish Refugee Council

82. DAWN

83. Development and Peace ― Caritas Canada

84. Diakonia

85. Doctors Against Genocide

86. Ekō

87. Embrace the Middle East

88. EMERGENCY - Life Support for Civilian War Victims

89. Emmaüs International

90. Entraide et Fraternité

91. Episcopal Peace Fellowship Palestine Justice Network

92. EuroMed Rights

93. EyeWitnessGaza

94. FÓRUM DE POLÍTICA FEMINISTA

95. Franciscans international

96. Freedom Forward

97. Friends Committee on National Legislation

98. Friends of Sabeel North America (FOSNA)

99. Fund for Global Human Rights

100. Fundación Mundubat

101. Gaza Culture and Development Group (GCDG)

102. Gaza Society for Sustainable Agriculture and Friendly Environment (SAFE)

103. German Platform of Development and Humanitarian Aid NGOs (VENRO)

104. Gisha - Legal Center for Freedom of Movement

105. Glia

106. Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect (GCR2P)

107. Global Development for Palestine (GD4P)

108. Global Justice Now

109. Greenpeace

110. HaMoked: Center for the Defence of the Individual

111. Hands for Charity

112. Health Justice Initiative - South Africa

113. HEKS/EPER(Swiss Church Aid)

114. HelpAge International

115. Human Security Collective

116. Humanité Solidarité Médecine (HuSoMe ONG)

117. Humanitet

118. Humanity & Inclusion - Handicap International

119. Humanity Above All

120. Humanity Auxilium

121. Humanity First UK

122. Ina autra senda - Swiss Friends of Combatants for Peace

123. INARA

124. Independent Catholic News

125. Indiana Center for Middle East Peace

126. Initiatives et Changement

127. Insecurity Insight

128. Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary - Loreto Generalate

129. International Centre of Justice for Palestinians

130. International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)

131. 132. 133. International NGO Safety Organisation (INSO)

International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW)

International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) -

Germany

134. INTERSOS

135. Ir Amim

136. Islamic Relief Worldwide

137. 138. Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD UK)

Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions - Germany

139. J’ai Rêvé foundation

140. Jahalin Solidarity

141. Jewish Network for Palestine

142. Jüdische Stimme für Demokratie und Gerechtigkeit in Israel/Palästina, JVJP

143. Just Foreign Policy

144. Just Treatment

145. Kairos Ireland

146. Kenya Human Rights Commission

147. KinderUSA

148. Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation

149. Machsomwatch

150. Mai Indifferenti

151. Martin Etxea Elkartea

152. 153. Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns

Médecins du Monde International Network

154. Médecins Sans Frontières

155. MedGlobal

156. Medical Aid for Palestinians

157. Medico International

158. medico international schweiz

159. MENA Rights Group

160. Mennonite Central Committee

161. Mercy Corps

162. Middle East Children’s Alliance

163. Migrant Roots Media

164. Mothers Manifesto

165. MPower Change Action Fund

166. Muslim Aid

167. Mwatana for Human Rights

168. National Justice and Peace Network E&W

169. Netzwerk Ökumenisches Begleitprogramm in Palästina und Israel in

Deutschland e.V. (EAPPI Netzwerk))

170. Nonviolent Peaceforce

171. Norwegian Church Aid

172. Norwegian People’s Aid

173. Norwegian Refugee Council

174. Oxfam International

175. Palestine Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF)

176. Palestine Justice Network of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

177. Palestinian American Medical Association (PAMA)

178. Palestinian Housing Council

179. Parents Against Child Detentions

180. Partners for Palestine

181. Partners for Progressive Israel

182. Partnerschaftsverein Bonn-Ramallah e.V.

183. PAX

184. Pax Christi Australia

185. Pax Christi England and Wales

186. Pax Christi Deutschland

187. Pax Christi Flanders

188. Pax Christi International

189. Pax Christi Italy

190. pax christi Munich

191. Pax Christi Scotland

192. Pax Christi USA

193. Peace Direct

194. Peace Watch Switzerland

195. Penny Appeal Canada

196. People in Need

197. Physicians for Human Rights Israel

198. Plan International

199. Plataforma de Solidaridad con Palestina de Sevilla

200. Plateforme des ONG françaises pour la Palestine

201. Polish-Palestinian Justice Initiative KAKTUS

202. Première Urgence Internationale

203. Presbyterian Church (USA)

204. Protection Approaches

205. Quixote Center

206. Refugees International

207. Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary - NGO

208. ReThinking Foreign Policy

209. Right to Movement

210. Rumbo a Gaza-Freedom Flotilla

211. Sadaka-the Ireland Palestine Alliance

212. Saferworld

213. Saskatoon Chapter of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East

214. Save the Children

215. Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund

216. Sisters of Mercy of the Americas - Justice Team

217. Solidarités International

218. Solsoc

219. Stichting Heimat International Foundation

220. STOPAIDS

221. Støtteforeningen Det Danske Hus i Palæstina

222. Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS)

223. Tearfund

224. Terre des Hommes Germany

225. Terre des Hommes International Federation

226. Terre des Hommes Lausanne

227. Terres des Hommes Italia

228. The Eastern Mediterranean Public Health Network (EMPHNET)

229. The International Development and Relief Foundation

230. The Palestine Justice Network of the Presbyterian Church USA Bay Area

231. The Rights Forum

232. The Shift

233. Trócaire

234. Union of Agricultural Work Committees-UAWC

235. United Against Inhumanity (UAI)

236. United Methodists for Kairos Response (UMKR)

237. United Network for Justice and Peace in Palestine and Israel (UNJPPI)

238. Universities Allied for Essential Medicines UK

239. US-Lutheran Palestine Israel Justice Network

240. Vento di Terra

241. War Child Alliance

242. War on Want

243. Welthungerhilfe

244. Yesh Din

Author: CeasefireNOW

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