Gaza is starving.

Starvation is not a looming threat in Gaza – it’s been here for the past several weeks. The UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs is warning of “starvation, pure and simple,” while at least 98 children have died from acute malnutrition, including 37 in the past month alone.

Every day, desperate Gazans risk their lives seeking food – sometimes with fatal results. In just the last two weeks, more than 1,000 people have been killed while trying to access aid, many at distribution points run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. A UN human rights official underscores the toll: “Israel is using famine as a weapon.”

In response to mounting international pressure, Israel has begun limited airdrops and humanitarian corridors. But the UN and aid organisations are clear: this is only lip service. Airdrops are ineffective, costly, and sometimes deadly.

UNRWA specifically warns that parachutes and remote drops can result in harm – and that only land routes can deliver reliable aid. On average, aid delivered by airdrops, instead of trucks, are 100 times more costly.

Even when aid trucks do enter Gaza, most fail to reach those in need. Desperate crowds, looting, distrust, and military restrictions continue to block or distort deliveries. Only about 14 percent of the required aid has actually made its way in.

UN leaders are sounding the alarm: the humanitarian collapse in Gaza is among the worst on record. Hospitals are overwhelmed (and most are no longer functioning), famine is widespread, and children are dying.

We have a responsibility. IF Charity continues to deliver hot meals, food parcels, and other essential aid in Gaza, despite the escalating risks. Some of the food we distribute are sourced from the pockets of local markets and vendors still active inside Gaza, despite severely high costs, while others are from the few aid trucks that make it into Gaza.

But we cannot respond alone.

Your support is a literal lifeline for Gazans:

• £45 can provide food aid in the form of vegetable parcels, monthly food essentials or hot meals
• £50 can provide urgent financial aid to allow people to access services or buy supplies themselves

• £250 will refill a clean water tanker, which can then serve an entire community

Learn more about our Gaza Emergency Appeal here, or check out our recent blogs on our ongoing food distribution in Gaza and our effort to supply fresh vegetables here.