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SvennoJ on 13 May 2025
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Rights groups call for global action after new famine warning

We’ve been covering the IPC’s latest warning of famine in Gaza. Earlier, some 250 Palestinian and international rights groups called on countries around the world to deploy a humanitarian convoy to Gaza and break Israel’s siege.

Here’s more reaction from rights groups:

  • Islamic Relief says the latest famine alert shows Israel has turned starvation into a weapon of war and called for action, saying every minute counts now.
  • Action Against Hunger said the IPC report shows that the continued blocking of the entry of food will cause famine and called for an immediate and permanent ceasefire.
  • SOS Children’s Villages called on the United Kingdom to act over the “harrowing” crisis, saying children in Gaza are at risk of being starved to death.
  • Save the Children said that nearly every child in Gaza is now at risk of famine, noting that there is food, water and medical aid ready to go at the border.



Crisis Group slams US-Israeli plan for Gaza aid

The International Crisis Group says Israel’s plan to conquer Gaza and impose a new aid scheme “threatens to prolong the war and weaponise the starving population’s most vital needs”.

The plan, dubbed “Operation Gideon’s Chariots”, was endorsed by the Israeli cabinet on May 4, and has not yet rolled into motion.

The ICG said the US is now trying to rebrand the aid component of the Israeli plan as a US-led initiative. But whoever runs it, the scheme “is not merely insufficient, but misguided and dangerous”, the US-based think tank said.

“Tens of thousands of tonnes of desperately needed food, medicine and supplies are sitting waiting at Gaza’s borders. The dozens of aid groups, including UN agencies, that have been keeping the population alive insist they only need Israel to open the crossings, so that they may recommence their work without fear; they do not need anyone to build an entirely new system,” it said.

“Meanwhile, if Israel’s military operation does move forward as proposed, it is almost certain to unleash even deeper catastrophe for Gaza’s population.”


WHO warns of permanent effect of starvation on a generation of Palestinians

Malnutrition rates are rising in Gaza and hunger could have lasting effects on “an entire generation”, the World Health Organization’s representative for the Occupied Palestinian Territory says.

Rik Peeperkorn said he had seen children in clinics who looked years younger than their age.

“Without enough nutritious food, clean water and access to healthcare, an entire generation will be permanently affected,” Peeperkorn told a news briefing by videolink from Deir el-Balah, warning of poor health, stunting and impairing cognitive development.

No food has been allowed into Gaza for more than two months, as Israel presses its devastating blockade of the Strip.

Israel has admitted to withholding food, water and other life-sustaining supplies from the enclave as a pressure tactic to get Hamas to release the remaining Israeli captives.


Israel must immediately lift ‘devastating siege’ on Gaza: Amnesty

The human rights group Amnesty International says it has gathered “horrifying testimonies” from Palestinian parents in Gaza who are unable to feed their children and who are themselves experiencing severe levels of hunger.

“Israel must immediately lift its devastating siege on Gaza, which constitutes a genocidal act, collective punishment, and the war crime of using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare,” the group said.


Israel’s Gaza aid plan a ‘cynical sideshow’: UN

The United Nations aid chief criticised a plan by Israel for the distribution of aid in the Gaza Strip as a “cynical sideshow, a deliberate distraction, a fig leaf for further violence and displacement”.

Tom Fletcher told the UN Security Council that no food, medicine, water or tents have entered the war-torn Palestinian enclave for more than 10 weeks.

“We can save hundreds of thousands of survivors. We have rigorous mechanisms to ensure our aid gets to civilians and not to Hamas. But Israel denies us access, placing the objective of depopulating Gaza before the lives of civilians,” said Fletcher.