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Aid workers describe Gaza as “stuff of nightmares”

Restrictions on movement and total siege making aid operations almost impossible 

As Gaza enters the eighth week of an Israel-imposed siege, blocking aid, vital supplies and commercial goods, Oxfam staff are describing conditions as the “stuff of nightmares”, with Israel’s mass forced displacement orders spreading terror, Oxfam said.  

Israel has issued repeated forced displacement orders to clear out civilian populations from its renewed airstrikes and attacks on Gaza since 18 March, which has left about 70% of the Strip under displacement orders or “no go” zones, affecting more than 500,000 people. Many have been pushed into inhospitable, unsafe and inaccessible areas.  

Since 2 March, Israel has allowed no aid or commercial goods to enter Gaza. Many humanitarian agencies have been forced to pause their operations. Oxfam and its partners have not received a single aid truck, food parcel, hygiene kit or any other essential equipment since the siege began. Oxfam’s supplies are nearly exhausted, with only a few water tanks remaining in Gaza City. 

Palestinians in Gaza are now emotionally and physically exhausted after 18 months of airstrikes and ground offensives, repeated forced displacement orders and restrictions on basic services since October 7, 2023. 

The recent escalations in efforts by Israel to bombard, deprive and displace the Palestinian population of Gaza, sees Oxfam and partner organizations severely restricted and struggling to provide support to civilians, who are facing starvation and relentless violence.  

One Oxfam staff member, who was displaced under fire twice in one week after the forced evacuation of Rafah, said nearly everything had been destroyed. She described the sounds of gunfire at night and people crying in the street, not knowing where to go. Another Oxfam worker said the experiences were “the stuff of nightmares” – people crying for help under piles of rubble, with others desperately trying to flee with injured family members, and others facing a daily struggle to find anything to drink or eat.  

Clemence Lagouardat, Oxfam Response Lead in Gaza said:  “It’s hard to explain just how terrible things are in Gaza at the moment. Our staff and partners are witnessing scenes of carnage and despair every day. People are in terror, fearing for their lives as displacement orders tell them, with little notice, to move with whatever they can carry. 

“The restrictions on internal movement are also making it very difficult to carry out vital, life-saving work. With so many people displaced, the strains on dwindling resources and operational needs are massive. What little aid we have left inside Gaza is hard to get to people living in makeshift shelters and tents when travel is so dangerous.” 

Mohammad Nairab, Executive Manager, Palestinian Environmental Friends Association (PEF), one of Oxfam’s partners in Gaza said: 

“Since the war resumed many of our teams have been displaced. We have had to continue our work despite the lack of safety, as countless people rely on us for water, especially during these dire times. Nothing could have prepared us for such an unprecedented war. The damage we face—both psychological and physical—is profound and cannot be undone.” 

Oxfam says that people are struggling to find safe drinking water, with facilities bombed or unable to operate since Israel cut the last remaining electricity supplies needed to run sanitation facilities. Backup generators are of little use because fuel stores are depleted. The prices of what little food is available have skyrocketed, and many people are at risk of extreme hunger.  

Lagouardat said: “We must see an end to this terror and carnage right now, with a lifting of the siege to allow urgent humanitarian aid to reach all of those in need.”  

Oxfam is calling for a renewed and permanent ceasefire, the safe return of Israeli hostages and illegally detained Palestinian prisoners, and immediate and unfettered aid access at scale in Gaza. Oxfam reiterates its call for justice and accountability for all those affected. States should stop selling arms to Israel, risking complicity in war crimes and crimes against humanity.      

Notes to editors

  • Israel has issued many orders and directives, to people to move into areas it has declared ‘known shelters’, but these have lacked the necessary facilities outlined under international humanitarian law (IHL), which include the provision of proper accommodation, hygiene, health, safety, nutrition and commitments to ensure that families are kept together. IHL provisions on the protection of civilians also guarantee the safety of those who may not be able, or wish, to relocate.  Evacuation | How does law protect in war? – Online casebook 
  • Customary IHL Rule 129 and Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 explicitly prohibit an occupying power from deporting or forcibly transferring members of the occupied civilian population, regardless of motive. This provision is a cornerstone of the laws of occupation; it is designed to prevent demographic changes being made by the occupying power to the occupied territory, regardless of any ‘justification’ it may provide for such changes. It underscores the principle that the rights and dignity of the civilian population must be protected, reflecting an occupying power’s obligations to ensure the welfare and security of those under its administration. There are exceptions for evacuation of civilians for their own safety, but only on a temporary basis and where adequate shelter, food, water and access to medical care are provided. This is not the case in Gaza. On 14 April, the UN confirmed in the Daily Press Briefing by the Office of the Secretary General, that currently, about 70 per cent of the Gaza Strip is under displacement orders or in “no go” zones, where the Israeli authorities require humanitarian teams to coordinate their movements.  
  • On 15 April, the UN reported that between 18 March and 14 April, the Israeli military issued at least 20 displacement orders, placing about 142.7 square kilometres, or 39 per cent of the Gaza Strip, under active displacement orders. In addition to areas placed under displacement orders, the Israeli authorities have requested the UN to coordinate and notify movements to the “no-go” zone along Gaza’s perimeter and along Wadi Gaza where Israeli forces have re-deployed since 20 March, which makes up about 50 per cent of the Gaza Strip. In total, about 69 per cent of the Gaza Strip is under active displacement orders, within the “no-go” zone or both. 

Contact information

[email protected]

Israel blocks aid to Gaza as Ramadan begins – Oxfam reaction

Israel’s decision, to block aid to over two million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip as Ramadan begins, is a reckless act of collective punishment, explicitly prohibited under international humanitarian law. The Government of Israel, as occupying power has the responsibility to ensure that humanitarian aid can reach the population in Gaza. 

Humanitarian aid is not a bargaining chip for applying pressure on parties, but a fundamental right of civilians experiencing urgent need in challenging and life-threatening circumstances. 

When our teams assessed the conditions in Gaza in the wake of the January 19th announcement of a temporary ceasefire, they encountered apocalyptic scenes of complete destruction and famine-like conditions.  

People in Gaza are in need of everything:  lifesaving water, food, sanitation and other necessities, as well as equipment critically needed for restoration of water and electricity. The goods that were able to enter during the weeks of ceasefire have brought some relief but remain a drop in the ocean.   

The international community must apply immediate pressure on Israel to ensure vital aid urgently gets into Gaza. The International Court of Justice has ordered Israel to ensure aid deliveries at scale throughout Gaza.  

Israel’s forced displacement orders in Lebanon may constitute grave breaches of International Humanitarian Law, say aid agencies.

 The 136 forced displacement orders Israel imposed on 25 per cent of Lebanon during its 62 – day war were woefully inadequate, unnecessarily dangerous and likely illegal, aid agencies said today. 

 

These orders, which Israel called evacuations, either targeted defined locations, were mass orders that encompassed entire villages, neighbourhoods and towns, or vague directives on nonspecific areas that collectively forced 1.4 million people to flee their homes to overcrowded shelters, and some onto the streets, as nearly every governate in Lebanon came under attack.  

 

In a joint report released today, Forced Displacement Orders: Debunking the Myth of Humane Attacks, ActionAid and Oxfam reveal that so-called evacuation orders between September 23rd and October 31s may amount to a campaign of forcible transfer— a grave breach of International Humanitarian Law (IHL). The report highlights how these displacements were neither legitimate nor safe, leaving families without shelter or protection and raising serious concerns about potential war crimes.  

 

The report found the orders were impossible to comply with and triggered waves of mass displacement that failed to meet all standards of IHL which demands effective advance warnings that are clear, targeted, and give sufficient time to allow people to leave safely, as well as a timeline for them to return home.  

Out of the 3334 air strikes Israel conducted from Sept 23 to Oct 31st, only 117 (3.5 per cent) area specific forced displacements orders were issued.  On average, the orders were sent with only 15-45 minutes warning before a strike, with the majority issued in the middle of the night between 10pm and 4am.  

 

“The chaos, destruction, and disruption caused by these displacements will continue to affect the most vulnerable communities long after the ceasefire,” said Oxfam Lebanon Country Director Bachir Ayoub. 

 

“Entire communities—many already among the most vulnerable, including Syrian and Palestinian refugees and migrant workers—were uprooted from their homes and thrust into life-threatening conditions. Thousands, already struggling, saw their vulnerabilities deepen, pushing them to the brink. Many were forced to seek refuge into places where privacy, sanitation, and safety were severely inadequate, putting women and girls at heightened risk of gender-based violence. Essential services like clean water and healthcare have been damaged, while the disruption of schooling has deprived tens of thousands of children of their basic right to education.”  

 

Sudipta Kumar, ActionAid’s Regional Director for the Arab Region, said: “The impact of these attacks by Israeli forces will be felt for many years to come. After the ceasefire, thousands of families returned to their towns and villages to find their homes reduced to wreckage. Many have been left with nothing and cannot afford to rebuild.  

 

“The only way to protect people in Lebanon from further upheaval is to agree an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Lebanon and in Gaza. Until then, families in Lebanon will continue to live in fear that bombs could start dropping on their homes again at any moment.” 

 

Forced displacement is prohibited under IHL, and evacuation is only lawful when civilian safety and well-being are guaranteed, including access to shelter, hygiene, health services, food, and family unity. The agencies found that Israel’s displacement orders in Lebanon failed to meet these conditions, offering no adequate provisions for civilian welfare. As a result, these actions constitute a grave breach of IHL and show blatant disregard for civilian safety. 

 

To ensure that the tens of thousands of civilians still unable to return home can rebuild their lives—and to preserve Lebanon’s fragile peace—the agencies call for all efforts to ensure the current ceasefire agreement in Lebanon holds, an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza is reached with all violations condemned and urgently addressed. As well the as immediate and safe return of displaced people in South Lebanon.   

 

The international community must halt the transfer of weapons and military equipment where there is a risk they will be used to commit further IHL violations and hold all parties accountable for any IHL violations to ensure civilians, regardless of their location or circumstances, are protected.  

 

Notes to editors

Urgent joint statement: Northern Gaza is being erased

Oxfam and 37 other humanitarian organisations are raising the alarm about the catastrophic situation in Northern Gaza

The Israeli forces’ assault on Gaza has escalated to a horrifying level of atrocity. Northern Gaza is being wiped off the map. Under the guise of “evacuation,” Israeli forces have ordered the forced displacement of an estimated 400,000 Palestinians trapped in northern Gaza, including Gaza City. This is not an evacuation—this is forced displacement under gunfire. Since 1 October, no food has been allowed into the area, and civilians are being starved and bombed in their homes and their tents. 

Hospitals, already overwhelmed, are being ordered to evacuate. They are running out of fuel and essential supplies, while doctors and nurses battle to save lives with what little they have left. The wounded flood in – children, older people, victims of Israeli airstrikes – but with no resources to treat them. 

Dr. Mohammed Salha, acting director of Al-Awda Hospital in northern Gaza, described the dire situation: “The Israeli military has contacted us more than once to evacuate the hospital… [All] the departments are full of wounded people and we are discharging even the wounded who have minor or moderate injuries, because we do not have [enough] beds for them. I [told the Israeli military] clearly that we would not evacuate the hospital unless there are ambulances that can preserve the lives of the wounded people we have and reach another hospital that provides better service to the wounded.” 

The world cannot continue to stand by as the Israeli government commits these atrocities. Global leaders have both a legal and moral duty to act now. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has ordered Israel to take all measures within its power to prevent the commission of all acts within the scope of Article II of the Genocide Convention including “killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; and imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group”. There is no evidence that Israel has adhered to these orders, and the killing of Palestinians has only intensified. 

Any attempt to alter the territorial integrity of Gaza constitutes a blatant violation of international law. This is especially egregious in light of the recent ICJ advisory opinion, which significantly heightens the obligation of third states to take decisive action. Failure to do so risks their complicity in perpetuating the illegal occupation. 

All parties must allow unimpeded access for humanitarian organisations to deliver aid based on need, without restricting types, volumes, or locations. Aid delivery must remain impartial and independent of military objectives to prevent its instrumentalisation or politicisation. Civilians must not be forced to flee to receive aid; those choosing to stay in their homes must be protected under international law. 

We demand an immediate ceasefire and an end to Israel’s illegal occupation. Global leaders must act in line with the UN General Assembly Resolution on the ICJ Advisory Opinion and fulfil their obligation not to facilitate or support Israel’s illegal occupation. Third states must halt now the transfer of all weapons, parts and ammunition that could be used to commit further violations of international humanitarian law.

This is not a time for silence – this is a time for action. The people of Gaza cannot wait. The world must intervene now before more innocent lives are lost. 

Notes to editors

The forcible transfer of Palestinian civilians in Gaza is a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention and does not amount to a permissible evacuation. Relocation areas have not provided safety, adequate shelter or essential services, and there has also been no guarantee that displaced populations will be able to return once hostilities end. 

Signatories:

  1. ActionAid 
  2. Action For Humanity 
  3. Afri (Action from Ireland) 
  4. Amos Trust 
  5. Bloody Sunday Trust 
  6. Centre for Global Education 
  7. CESVI 
  8. Children Not Numbers 
  9. Christian Aid 
  10. Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP) 
  11. Comhlamh Justice for Palestine 
  12. Council for Arab-British Understanding (Caabu) 
  13. Embrace the Middle East 
  14. Feminist Humanitarian Network (FHN) 
  15. Gender Action for Peace and Security (GAPS) 
  16. Global Justice Now 
  17. HelpAge International 
  18. Interpal 
  19. Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign 
  20. Islamic Relief 
  21. KinderUSA 
  22. Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) 
  23. Médecins du Monde Spain 
  24. Middle East Children’s Alliance 
  25. Muslim Aid 
  26. Novact Institute for Nonviolence 
  27. Oxfam 
  28. Plan International Jordan 
  29. Sabeel-Kairos UK 
  30. Sadaka-The Ireland Palestine Alliance 
  31. TDH Italy 
  32. Trócaire 
  33. Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union/ Aontas Mac Léinn Choláiste na Tríonóide (TCDSU/AMLCT) 
  34. Vento di Terra 
  35. War Child 
  36. War on Want 
  37. WeWorld 
  38. Welfare Association 

Contact information

Spokespersons are available for interviews. Please contact:

Oxfam Media office | [email protected]  

For updates, please follow @NewsFromOxfam and @OxfamJerusalem. 

Israel’s Siege Blocks 83% of Food Aid, New Data Reveals

15 aid organisations demand international pressure for an immediate ceasefire, arms embargo, and end to Israel’s systematic aid obstruction 

New data has revealed the scale of aid obstruction, and the consequential drastic fall in aid entering Gaza. This is driving a humanitarian disaster, with the entire population of Gaza facing hunger and disease, and almost half a million at risk of starvation.  

While Israeli military attacks on Gaza intensify, lifesaving food, medicine, medical supplies, fuel, and tents have been systematically blocked from entering for almost a year.  

Data analysis by organisations working in Gaza has found that as a consequence of the Israeli government’s obstruction of aid:   

  • 83% of required food aid does not make it into Gaza, up from 34% in 2023.This reduction means people in Gaza have gone from having an average of two meals a day to just one meal every other day. An estimated 50,000 children aged between 6-59 months urgently require treatment for malnutrition by the end of the year. 
  • 65% of the insulin required and half of the required blood supply are not available in Gaza.  
  • Availability of hygiene items has dropped to 15% of the amount available in September 2023. One million women are now going without the hygiene supplies they need.  

A record low average of 69 aid trucks per day entered Gaza in August 2024, compared to 500 per working day last year; which was already not enough to meet people’s needs. In August more than 1 million people did not receive any food rations in southern and central Gaza.  

Now, only 17 out of 36 hospitals remain partially functional. Critical infrastructure such as water networks, sanitation facilities and bread mills have been razed to the ground.  

While humanitarian needs are ever increasing, agencies have detailed six main ways their life-saving aid is systematically obstructed on a daily basis. 

These include the denial of safety, with more than 40,000 Palestinians and nearly 300 aid workers killed since last October; the sharp tightening of a 17-year blockade to a full siege, which prevents aid from entering Gaza; delays and denials which restrict the movement of aid around Gaza; tightly restrictive and unpredictable control of imports; the destruction of public infrastructure such as schools and hospitals; and the displacement of civilians and humanitarian workers (witnessed again in recent displacement orders from the so-called “humanitarian zone” in Deir el-Balah.) 

Ahead of the UN General Assembly in New York this week, aid agencies are calling on governments to demand Israel end aid obstruction and to: 

  • Secure an immediate and lasting ceasefire in Gaza.  
  • Implement an arms embargo and end the export of weapons and military equipment that risk being used in violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law.  
  • Demand compliance with the International Court of Justice’s findings and recommendations, an end to the Israeli government’s siege of Gaza, and heed the call of the ICJ in its advisory opinion to end the occupation of Palestinian territory.  

Jolien Veldwijik, CARE Country Director in the West Bank and Gaza, said:  

“The situation was intolerable long before last October’s escalation and is beyond catastrophic now. Over 11 months, we have reached shocking levels of conflict, displacement, disease and hunger. Yet, aid is still not getting in, and humanitarian workers are risking their lives to do their jobs while attacks and violations of international law intensify. Aid, which is urgently required for 2.2 million people at risk of dying in the coming weeks and months, should never be politicised. We demand an immediate and sustained ceasefire, and the free flow of humanitarian aid into and throughout Gaza.”  

Amjad Al Shawa, the director of the Palestinian NGOs Network (PNGO), an umbrella organisation of 30 Palestinian NGOs and a partner of ActionAid, said: 

 “There is a shortage of all humanitarian items. We are overwhelmed [with] these needs and [these] urgent requirements…People [are] starving due to the shortage of aid…100% of the population depend on humanitarian aid…It’s the worst situation that we [witnessed] during …. the Israel war in Gaza.” 

ENDS  

Notes to editors 

  • A quote pack from people affected by aid obstruction in Gaza 
  • Spokespeople including aid workers on the ground, medical professionals, and humanitarian sector leaders are available for comment and interview on request. 
  • For broadcasters: footage from Gaza is available on request.  

Signed on: 

  1. CARE International 
  2. Save the Children 
  3. ActionAid 
  4. Christian Aid 
  5. War Child 
  6. Islamic Relief 
  7. HelpAge International  
  8. American Friends Service Committee 
  9. Oxfam 
  10. DanChurchAid 
  11. Norwegian Church Aid 
  12. Mennonite Central Committee 
  13. Danish Refugee Council 
  14. Norwegian Refugee Council 
  15. KinderUSA 

 

Israel government continues to block Gaza aid response

Israeli authorities have rejected a warehouse full of international aid including oxygen, incubators and Oxfam water and sanitation gear all of which is now stockpiled at Al Arish just 40 km away from the border of 2.3 million desperate Palestinians in Gaza.

The aid originates from many humanitarian organisations around the world and has been rejected over weeks and months as result of an unpredictable and chaotic regime of approval, scanning and inspection, ultimately controlled by Israeli authorities. The reasons for rejection are not clear, says Oxfam.

In a new report today, Oxfam said this rejected aid was just one example of an overall humanitarian response that Israel has made so dangerous and dysfunctional as to be impossible for aid agencies to work at the speed and scale necessary to save lives, despite best efforts.

Oxfam says that Israel’s government ultimately bears accountability for the breakdown of the international response to the crisis in Gaza. It is failing in its legal responsibilities to the people whose land it occupies and breaking one of the key provisions demanded by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) – to boost humanitarian aid in light of the risk of genocide in Gaza.

Oxfam believes that people living in Gaza will suffer mass death from disease and starvation far beyond the current 31,000 Palestinian war casualties unless Israel takes immediate steps to end its violations.

Oxfam Middle East and North Africa Director, Sally Abi Khalil said, “the fact that other governments have not challenged Israel hard enough, but instead turned to less effective methods like airdrops and maritime corridors is a huge red flag, signalling that Israel continues to deny the full potential of better ways to deliver more aid”.

“Israeli authorities are not only failing to facilitate the international aid effort but are actively hindering it. We believe that Israel is failing to take all measures within its power to prevent genocide,” Abi Khalil said.

Oxfam’s report “Inflicting Unprecedented Suffering and Destruction” identifies seven crucial ways that Israel is actively preventing the delivery of international aid into Gaza and punishing all Palestinians living in Gaza by deliberately depriving them of life and safety.

The report says that Israeli authorities:

  • Only allow aid in via two crossings into Gaza – at Rafah and KarmAbu Salem/Kerem Shalom – despite having total control to open more, thereby creating avoidable choke points for aid;
  • Are leading a dysfunctional and undersized inspection system that keeps aid snarled up, subjected to onerous, repetitive and unpredictable bureaucratic procedures that are contributing to trucks being stranded in giant queues for 20 days on average;
  • Are routinely and arbitrarily rejecting items of aid as having “dual (military) use”, banning vital fuel and generators entirely along with other items vital for a meaningful humanitarian response such as protective gear and communications kit. Much rejected aid must go through a complex “pre-approval” system or end up being held in limbo at the Al Arish warehouse in Egypt;
  • Have cracked down on humanitarian missions, largely sealing off northern Gaza, and restricting international humanitarian workers’ access not only into Gaza, but Israel and the West Bank including East Jerusalem too.

Israel has allowed 15,413 trucks into Gaza during the past 157 days of war. Oxfam says the population of Gaza needed five times more than that just to meet their minimum needs. In February, Israel allowed 2,874 trucks in – a 44% reduction from the month before.

Israel’s actions are also undermining international aid by its continued military assault inside Gaza, unparalleled in terms of intensity, brutality and scope – and which Israeli leaders themselves have called a “total siege” – as Oxfam highlights:

  • Israel’s assault has caught Gaza’s own aid workers and international agencies’ partners inside a “practically uninhabitable” environment of mass displacement and deprivation, where 75% of solid waste is now being dumped in random sites, 97% of groundwater made unfit for human use, and the Israeli state using starvation as a weapon of war;
  • Israel has rendered nowhere in Gaza safe amid the forcible and often multiple displacements of almost the entire population, which makes the principled distribution of aid unviable, including agencies’ ability to help repair vital public services at scale;
  • Its attacks are disproportionate and indiscriminate upon civilian and humanitarian assets – including people – such as solar, water, power and sanitation plants, UN premises, hospitals, roads, and aid convoys and warehouses, even when these assets are supposedly ‘deconflicted’ after their coordinates have been shared for protection.

“The state of Israel has created the perfect storm for humanitarian collapse and only the state of Israel can fix it,” Abi Khalil said.

Celine Maayeh, the Advocacy and Research Officer for one of Oxfam’s partner organisations in Gaza, Juzoor for Health and Social Development, said:

“Juzoor has been overwhelmed with support from all over the world, but we’re so frustrated in our helplessness and inability to actually get enough aid into Gaza. For the first few weeks, we managed to procure whatever we could get our hands on from local markets. Now, there is almost nothing — no resources, no supplies. In the North the situation is beyond dire. There’s been an alarming increase in cases of malnutrition among children in the last month , and yet the only food the team is able to find to feed people living in 45 shelters is some vegetables. There is an indisputable, man-made, intentional deprivation of aid that continues to suck the life out of any and all humanitarian operations, including our own.”

Oxfam is calling for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire to end the death and suffering because the measures intended to protect civilians or give them aid are not working. Armed Palestinian groups must release the civilian hostages they hold unconditionally. Displaced people should be allowed to return home in safety.

NOTES TO EDITOR

CONTACT DETAILS

[email protected]

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Oxfam is a worldwide development organisation that mobilises the power of people against injustice. Oxfam Aotearoa is a registered charity with the New Zealand Charities Register (registration CC24641). Donations are tax refundable.

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