Comment Without a rapid and sufficient supply of aid, famine and mass deaths in the Gaza Strip are inevitable. The aid recently provided is far from sufficient. Political pressure on the Israeli government must now be increased to prevent this catastrophe.
When hunger sets in, the body first uses up fat reserves, then muscle mass and then the body goes into survival mode.
The Gaza Strip in survival mode
According to data collected by the renowned IPC Initiative (Integrated Food Security Phase Classification), the worst-case scenario of a famine in the Gaza Strip is imminent. Extreme food shortages and acute malnutrition with fatalities have become part of everyday life for the people of Gaza: More than half a million people are experiencing famine-like conditions, according to the IPC. Doctors report a rapid increase in the number of child deaths due to starvation.
For many of the severely malnourished children, help will come too late, if it reaches them at all. This is because children's brains are already damaged in survival mode.
Aid organizations are once again sounding the alarm: without a rapid and sufficient supply of relief supplies, famine and mass deaths in the Gaza Strip are inevitable. The recent airlift of supplies to the population and the few trucks that are entering the Gaza Strip in disorderly situations, without adequate protection and nationwide distribution structures, are far from sufficient.
Systematic shortages: how help is hindered
The hardship and suffering of the people in the Gaza Strip is real and has become immeasurable in recent months: Since March 2, 2025, the Israeli government has imposed a complete closure of the Gaza Strip for two months - similar to the beginning of the war - and has not allowed any more aid deliveries. Water and gasoline have also become scarce.
Since the end of May, and after the functioning system of humanitarian aid by the United Nations and other aid organizations was shut down, the so-called “Gaza Humanitarian Foundation” set up by Israel and the USA has only been handing out minimal rations of food and relief supplies at four distribution points. However, the foundation and the new distribution mechanism are in no way humanitarian; on the contrary, they are designed to provide for only a few people and in a degrading manner. Over a thousand Palestinians have also been killed by Israeli military and security forces while trying to obtain food aid.
Adequate and needs-based supplies for the people in Gaza, which had previously been provided at least to some extent by the distribution mechanisms of the United Nations (UN) and other aid organizations with 400 nationwide distribution points, were de facto suspended by the Israeli military.
Since then, UN aid organizations and others have warned of mass starvation in the Gaza Strip and also of pandemics. Diarrhea and yellow fever cases have risen massively in the Gaza Strip due to the completely inadequate water supply. Children are wasting away, old men are collapsing, mothers can no longer breastfeed their babies.
At the end of July, Israel cleared the way for additional aid deliveries by truck and so-called airdrops.
However, this aid is not enough. Airdrops are dangerous and are mainly carried out in the north of the Gaza Strip in areas occupied by the Israeli military. How the relief supplies are to be distributed from there remains a mystery. Effective supplies for the starving population can only be delivered by land. But the conditions for this must be improved! For some days now, around 250-300 trucks with relief supplies have again been dispatched at the crossings to the Gaza Strip. However, this takes a long time and is complicated by the coordination with the Israeli authorities. In addition, the convoys are not secured, so that desperate Palestinians and organized gangs have often looted the trucks. Security for aid organizations is not guaranteed, as there is no ceasefire and no real “humanitarian corridors” have been established, instead there are destroyed roads and impassable areas.
Experts say that at least 600-700 trucks a day with the right aid supplies would be needed over a longer period of time to stop the famine.
Political pressure for improvement of the humanitarian situation
UN aid organizations, such as the World Food Programme (WFP), clearly state that there are enough relief supplies in the region to avert the imminent famine. The organizations have once again declared their willingness to bring this aid to the people. But for this to really work, a more permanent ceasefire is needed, which includes the release of the hostages as well as unrestricted access for humanitarian aid. And there needs to be a return to the comprehensive distribution system by UN organizations and other aid organizations that was abolished by the Israeli military in May and that meets humanitarian standards.
The international community should work towards achieving this and a return to a political process. 30 “Western” states have already done so in a joint declaration. Arab states have clearly rejected Hamas on the basis of the Arab League's reconstruction plan and have issued security declarations for Israel. These are all promising approaches that need to be built on politically. However, the pressure on the Israeli government is still not strong enough and too inconsistent.
For too long, the fact that the current Israeli government, also under pressure from its radical ministers, is doing or intends to do the very thing that has been loudly announced was obscured from view: disproportionate action against the civilian population, for instance, or the establishment of a camp, the so-called “humanitarian city” on the ruins of Rafah, And there is also an urgent need for a closer look at annexation plans.
German foreign policy should stop believing that we, as friends of Israel, will be heard by Netanyahu's government with our objections. Of course talks are needed, but as part of the European alliance, the German government should also explore concrete levers and at the very least not resist where political pressure can be increased to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza. A peaceful future for Israel and Palestine can only be achieved through an end to the war and through negotiations, not through violence and expulsion!