‘Feel so helpless’: Aid workers desperate as Gaza famine spreads
After months of trying to raise alarm, humanitarian workers in the Palestinian enclave are overflowing with anger, frustration and horror over Israel’s nearly three-month blockade.
The AP talked to a dozen aid workers in Gaza. At his kitchen in Khan Younis in the south, Nihad Abu Kush says more than 2,000 people show up every morning. There are no lines, just a sea of people terrified of being among the half who will miss out.
“I feel so helpless because the numbers grow every day,” Abu Kush said. “I look at their faces and I am unable to do anything.”
He says he recently gave up his portion after he locked eyes with a child with an empty pot. “I was among the 1,000 who didn’t get any,” Abu Kush said.
Mahmoud al-Saqqa, Oxfam’s food security coordinator, said parents tell him their kids are dizzy from lack of food. They search through rubbish for scraps.
“We see the hunger in their eyes,” he said. His group, like most, distributed its last food stocks weeks ago.
Palestinians, struggling with hunger due to Israeli blockade, wait in line to receive hot meals distributed by the charity organisations in Jabalia, Gaza on May 17
Three killed in Beit Lahiya, today’s death toll at 32
Israeli bombardment in Beit Lahiya has killed three more Palestinians, report our colleagues on the ground. The casualties bring today’s total death toll in Gaza to 32, they say.
Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum says many of the victims are reportedly women and children.
Israel’s military issues forced displacement order for Khan Younis
Israel’s military has ordered residents of Khan Younis – Gaza’s second largest city – to immediately flee, warning there will be an “unprecedented attack”.
The displacement order, shared on X by the military’s Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee, also applies to the nearby areas of Bani Suhaila and Abasan. It calls on civilians to move west towards al-Mawasi.
“From this moment, Khan Younis governorate will be considered a dangerous combat zone,” says the post.
It comes after Israel’s military issued a separate displacement order for areas of central Gaza yesterday, including al-Qarara in southern Deir el-Balah, as it presses on with its expanded offensive.
Some 92 percent of Gaza homes damaged or destroyed: UNRWA
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) shared the statistic in a post on X, saying the devastation facing the families in the enclave is “unimaginable”.
“Countless people have been displaced multiple times, and shelter is scarce,” the agency added. “The siege must be lifted.”
Families in #Gaza face unimaginable devastation. According to the Protection Cluster, 92% of homes have been damaged or destroyed, countless people have been displaced multiple times, and shelter is scarce.
UNRWA remains on the ground, providing critical aid.
The siege must be… pic.twitter.com/eSiNAOESyY
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) May 19, 2025
