Tearfund’s partners in Gaza say they are seeing people starving to death while the supplies that could save them are piled up within walking distance. Much of the Gaza Strip is experiencing famine conditions - meaning there is widespread starvation, malnutrition and hunger-related deaths.
This is a man-made crisis: for months, aid has been piled up on the border, with only a fraction now being allowed through – nowhere near enough to meet the desperate needs of two million people. Withholding food, water and medical supplies is a cruel and blatant breach of international humanitarian law, and countries which don’t act to prevent it are complicit.
Tearfund’s regional director, Safa Hijazeen, says: “The suffering in Gaza is not ‘unimaginable’, we see the horrors of it every day. The horrific injustice is that it is completely stoppable. The UK government and world leaders must demand, and continue to demand, that aid be allowed into Gaza immediately, freely and at scale – words are not feeding anyone. As Christians, how can we not be horrified by seeing God’s children starve to death? We cannot just watch and do nothing.”
Tearfund’s partner, Anera, has previously delivered millions of meals, medical supplies and water but, with aid being forcibly held back, they say time is running out. Gaza Humanitarian Foundation delivery points have become death traps – more than a thousand people have been killed just trying to get food to keep their families alive.
Safa Hijazeen continues: “‘Risk being shot or watch your family starve’ is not a choice – it’s a barbaric, real-life ‘Hunger Games’, complete with powerful leaders watching from well-stocked places of safety. Tearfund’s partner, Anera, told us two boys were shot at while trying to salvage a packet of macaroni from the rubble of their home.”
Another of Tearfund’s partners, International Health Partners (IHP), has life-saving medical supplies ready for delivery, but Israel is not currently allowing them into Gaza. Before the blockade, IHP delivered more than £1.1 million worth of medical aid, providing critical support to tens of thousands of people.
Tearfund is calling on the Israeli government to open all land crossings and ensure safe and sustained humanitarian access to all of Gaza. The use of aid air drops is deeply undignifying, incredibly dangerous and does nothing to meaningfully ease people’s suffering. Aid - in vast quantities - is sitting on the border with Gaza, sometimes even inside the Strip, but Israel is deliberately preventing it from reaching Palestinians.
Tearfund also calls for an immediate and sustained ceasefire, the release of all hostages, and for Israel to abandon the military-controlled aid distribution model and restore a principled, UN-led humanitarian response, in keeping with international humanitarian law. We must see an end to policies that are inflicting starvation on the people of Gaza.
For more information Tearfund’s Middle East Appeal, or to donate, please visit www.tearfund.org/middleeast.
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Notes to editors
Tearfund is a Christian development charity that partners with churches in more than 50 of the world’s poorest countries. We tackle poverty through sustainable development, responding to disasters and challenging injustice. We believe an end to extreme poverty is possible. Tearfund is also a member of the Disasters Emergency Committee. For more information about the work of Tearfund, please visit www.tearfund.org.
Source
Famine thresholds reached in Gaza: https://www.ipcinfo.org/fileadmin/user_upload/ipcinfo/docs/IPC_GazaStrip_Alert_July2025.pdf
