ISTANBUL

Over 100 aid organizations issued an urgent appeal for governments worldwide on Wednesday to take urgent action to end an Israeli siege on the Gaza Strip and restore full humanitarian access amid widespread famine in the enclave.

“Each morning, the same question echoes across Gaza: will I eat today?” said a representative of one of 109 signatories of the appeal shared by Save the Children, a UK-based non-governmental organization.

Two months after the Israeli government-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation began aid operations in Gaza, humanitarian groups say access remains severely restricted.

Despite tons of food, water, medical supplies, and fuel sitting in warehouses, including some already inside Gaza, aid is not reaching the over two million people trapped in what Save the Children describes as a “total siege.”

“The UN-led humanitarian system has not failed. It has been prevented from functioning,” the joint statement reads.

“Humanitarian agencies have the capacity and supplies to respond at scale. But, with access denied (by Israel), we are blocked from reaching those in need, including our own exhausted and starved teams.”

The aid organizations called for the immediate opening of all land crossings, the restoration of a principled and permanent ceasefire.

“Children tell their parents they want to go to heaven, because at least heaven has food,” said a psychosocial support worker.

Aid convoys currently average just 28 trucks per day, a fraction of what is needed. The UN has repeatedly stated that at least 500 to 600 trucks per day are required to meet the minimum needs of Gaza’s population.

The organizations also issued a sharp rebuke of so-called “piecemeal arrangements” such as airdrops and temporary corridors, calling them symbolic gestures that serve as a smokescreen for political inaction.

“They cannot replace states’ legal and moral obligations to protect Palestinian civilians and ensure meaningful access at scale,” the statement said.

In one of its most pointed demands, the coalition called on states to consider halting the transfer of weapons and ammunition to pressure Israel to end its siege on Gaza.

“Governments must stop waiting for permission to act,” the organizations said. “States can and must save lives - before there are none left to save.”

Early Wednesday, the Gaza Health Ministry said that ten more Palestinians died of starvation and malnutrition in the strip in the last 24 hours, pushing the death toll since October 2023 to 111.

Since March 2, Israel has stalled on implementing a ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal with Hamas and has kept Gaza’s border crossings shut, leaving humanitarian aid trucks stranded along the frontier.

Israel has killed more than 59,100 Palestinians, most of them women and children, in the Gaza Strip since October 2023. The military campaign has devastated the enclave, collapsed the health system, and led to severe food shortages.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.