US Muslim group says Israeli ‘PR stunt’ won’t relieve threat of famine
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has condemned the Israeli government for letting just nine aid trucks into Gaza.
The “trickle of aid” will “do nothing to relieve the threat of famine” for “two million Palestinian men, women and children besieged in Gaza”, CAIR said in a statement.
“This is a completely insufficient, psychotic PR stunt by Netanyahu’s genocidal government, which is determined to occupy and flatten Gaza, and then expel any Palestinians who survive,” CAIR added.
“The genocide – and our nation’s support for that genocide – must end.”
Nine trucks of aid for millions of starving Palestinians in Gaza? Israel's latest move is not humanitarian, it's a PR stunt.
We condemn this insult to the suffering of Gaza’s civilians and call on world leaders to stop supporting genocide.
🔗 https://t.co/glP45sdK9Q pic.twitter.com/ajxdwjltNw
— CAIR National (@CAIRNational) May 19, 2025
‘Handful of trucks not enough’ for Gaza’s exhausted population
Israel’s limited aid plan for Gaza falls far short of what is needed and violates basic humanitarian principles, according to Tess Ingram, UNICEF’s communication manager for the MENA region.
“A handful of trucks is not enough,” Ingram told Al Jazeera. “We have two million people who have endured three months of being deprived of all of the basics that they need to survive – food, water, medicine.”
She said even accessing the small amount of aid getting in will be punishing, as Israel’s distribution scheme seems to rely on just a “handful” of hubs in southern Gaza.
That means “people would have to walk a long way just to collect [aid packets] – weighing probably 20-25kg [45-55 pounds] – and then walk back again,” she said. “Imagine someone who is exhausted, sick, malnourished, dealing with an amputation – how are those people going to access that aid? That does not adhere to humanitarian principles.”
UNRWA official warns malnutrition in Gaza could ‘get beyond our control’
Malnutrition rates in Gaza may increase “exponentially” if food shortages continue, says Akihiro Seita, the health director of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA).
“I have data until end of April and it shows malnutrition on the rise,” Seita told a news briefing. “And then the worry is that if the current food shortage continues, it will exponentially increase, and then get beyond our control.”
Israel says it is now allowing a minimal amount of aid into Gaza after nearly three months of total blockade, but aid agencies say it falls far short of what’s needed to ease the suffering of an exhausted population.
Aid groups distribute meals to Palestinians in Nuseirat refugee camp on April 17
