After 11 weeks of blockading the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza, the Israeli government asked the UN to resume “limited” aid deliveries on May 18. The move came amid growing international outrage over what the UN secretary-general, António Guterres, has called a “policy of siege and starvation” in Gaza that “makes a mockery of international law”.
Israel cleared nine aid trucks on Monday, May 19, only five of which entered Gaza. The Israeli military says closer to 100 trucks were inspected the following day. But, according to the UN, none of this aid has been distributed yet.
It also goes without saying that even 100 aid trucks per day will not satisfy the desperate needs of Gaza’s 2.1 million inhabitants. The British, French and Canadian leaders have criticised Israel’s decision to allow a “basic amount of food” to enter the territory as “wholly inadequate”.
The blockade has caused the already desperate humanitarian situation in Gaza to deteriorate further. Food security experts from the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification platform say the entire territory is now facing crisis levels of food insecurity, with 22% of the population at risk of starvation.
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The World Food Programme ran out of supplies in Gaza in late April. Other organisations have had the same problem. This has caused 60% of community kitchens, which many Gazans rely on for a daily meal, to close down. Many food items are now unavailable and diets are extremely limited, largely consisting of bread and pulses.
Prices of what little food is available have also skyrocketed. The price of wheat flour, for example, has risen by more than 4,000% since the start of the 11-week long blockade. And with 90% of households in Gaza experiencing financial hardship, it is impossible for many people to buy essentials.
Cooking oil is no longer available and firewood has become scarce. The majority of people now burn waste, making cooking unsafe and unhealthy. On top of this, the healthcare system is on the brink of collapse and access to clean drinking water is very limited.
At the same time, the efforts of humanitarian organisations to combat malnutrition have nearly come to a standstill because they lack necessary supplies. Malnutrition makes people more susceptible to disease.
Militarising aid delivery
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said it was necessary to resume aid to Gaza because Israel’s allies would not tolerate “images of mass starvation”. The move has still been criticised by some Israeli politicians, with hardline defence minister Israel Katz calling it a “grave mistake”.
For now, aid will enter Gaza through established mechanisms. But the US and Israel are backing a proposal for a new aid delivery system involving private companies. The system will be managed by a newly formed independent American aid organisation called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which expects to become operational by the end of May.
The GHF plans to set up what it is calling “secure distribution sites” in southern and central Gaza. From these sites, it will distribute food, hygiene kits and medical supplies initially to 1.2 million people – eventually scaling-up operations to cover the whole population. The GHF says it will coordinate with the IDF but that its sites will be protected by private military contractors.
While the GHF claims to have secured funding and be in the process of procuring large amounts of goods, no details are currently available to the public on this massive undertaking. The plan has received widespread criticism and has been rejected by the UN.
The main criticism of the plan is that it violates so-called humanitarian principles. It is generally accepted that humanitarian action is based upon four main principles: humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence.
The principle of humanity states that suffering must be addressed wherever it is found, with a special focus on the most vulnerable people. Neutrality means that, in an armed conflict, humanitarian aid should not favour any side.
Impartiality requires that humanitarian aid is provided based solely on need without any discrimination. And independence means that humanitarian objectives should be autonomous of political, economic, military or other objectives.
Humanitarian bodies argue that the GHF’s plan does not stand up to these principles. It would force people to travel long distances to acquire heavy aid goods, so excludes those who are less mobile and more vulnerable.
Meanwhile, humanitarian organisations have rejected the plan as a “humanitarian cover for a military strategy of control and dispossession”. They have raised concerns that the limited number of food distribution sites, as well as their location, could encourage the forced displacement of Palestinians from northern Gaza.
Satellite images showing the construction of sites in Gaza that are expected to be used as aid distribution centres also suggest they will be close to Israeli military bases. While private security contractors will secure the distribution sites, the mere presence of military forces so close by may make people hesitant to approach for fear of being targeted.
UN agencies and other humanitarian organisations have refused to participate in the proposed plan. Any involvement with a plan that is allegedly aligned with Israel’s military strategy could undermine the ability of the UN to play a meaningful humanitarian role in Gaza in the future. And it would also be seen as an endorsement of the militarisation of aid delivery around the world.
As humanitarian experts point out, there is already an established system for providing aid to Gaza. Humanitarian organisations have the people, distribution networks and the necessary goods – 160,000 pallets full of them – in place. Almost 9,000 aid trucks are ready to be dispatched across the border as soon as Israel allows it.
During the ceasefire earlier in 2025, UN agencies and humanitarian organisations demonstrated how quickly they could scale-up a predictable and accountable delivery of aid to those in need all across Gaza. This can be done again.
The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
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