PHILADELPHIA (November 14, 2024) – A new report from humanitarian organizations working in Gaza details dire conditions. Aid entering Gaza has plummeted to the lowest level in over a year, despite demands for improvement from the U.S. government. Palestinians in northern Gaza have been effectively severed from all remaining lifelines. The population is facing starvation, severe shortages of clean water, and scarcity of essential supplies.
The Humanitarian Access Snapshots are compiled by more than thirty organizations and document the challenges to providing aid due to Israel’s constant bombardments, forced displacements, arbitrary restrictions, and other violations of International Humanitarian Law. See the full Humanitarian Access Snapshot here.
According to the report, as of November 12, 2024:
- Over 43,665 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed and 103,076 reported injured, with thousands still missing.
- Over 90% of the population in Gaza remains internally displaced and in abysmal conditions.
- Over the last month, Israeli airstrikes killed at least 20 aid workers. Staff were killed in their homes, in displacement camps, and while delivering life-saving aid. They were killed both in areas under forced displacement orders, like Jabalia and Beit Lahia, but also in the Israeli-declared “humanitarian zone”
- An average of only 37 humanitarian trucks per day entered Gaza in October, and an average of 69 per day during the first week of November. This is well below the average of 500 per day which entered Gaza before 7 October 2023.
“The Israeli military is relentlessly starving and bombing people – and is now moving forward with the annexation of northern Gaza – in grave violation of international law,” said Hanady Muhiar, Palestine/Israel Country Representative for the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC). “We need to end impunity, an arms embargo on Israel, and to bring the genocide to an end to prevent even more deaths.”
Palestinian and international organizations reported that nearly all movements into and around northern Gaza were impeded, cancelled or delayed by Israeli authorities. Aid organizations working in the north through Palestinian partner organizations also had to cease operations in areas of northern Gaza, including Jabalia and Beit Lahia, due to Israeli constant bombardment, and forced displacement.
The impacts of these restrictions and obstruction of aid delivery are severe and catastrophic. The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) released an urgent alert on November 8, reporting that starvation, malnutrition, and excess mortality due to malnutrition and disease are rapidly increasing in these areas and that there is a strong likelihood that famine is already occurring in northern Gaza. Immediate action is required within days, not weeks, to address the crisis.
The report calls on the Israeli government to immediately facilitate safe, unhindered access for all humanitarian assistance and guarantee the safety of all humanitarian actors. Signatories also call on all states to take concrete actions to ensure an immediate and permanent ceasefire, including immediately halting the transfer of weapons, parts, and ammunition to Israel.
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The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) promotes a world free of violence, inequality, and oppression. Guided by the Quaker belief in the divine light within each person, we nurture the seeds of change and the respect for human life to fundamentally transform our societies and institutions. We work with people and partners worldwide, of all faiths and backgrounds, to meet urgent community needs, challenge injustice, and build peace.