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Middle East Emergency Appeal Launched Amid Urgent Medical Needs

Since the U.S. and Israel launched airstrikes on Iran, violence has spread across the region. More than 1,300 people have been reportedly killed across ten countries, and many more have been injured. 

Doctors of the World UK has launched a Middle East emergency appeal to provide essential medical care to people affected by the outbreak of violence in the region. 

In Lebanon, airstrikes have forced thousands of people into temporary shelters, stretching humanitarian services to their limits. In response to the mass displacement of civilians, we are deploying mobile medical teams to deliver urgent care directly to affected communities. 
 
In Gaza, rising militarisation is preventing aid from reaching people in need. People already on the brink of survival are cut off from medicine, food and clean water. Despite the dangers, our local staff continue to deliver healthcare through seven clinics in Gaza while providing ongoing support in the West Bank.

Across Armenia, Syria, Iraq and Türkiye, we are monitoring border areas to support displaced people, who are increasingly at risk of illness, injury and pyschological challenges. 

We continue to assess how best to support Iranian civilians both inside Iran and in neighbouring countries.

Doctors of the World UK stresses that all parties to the conflict have a responsibility under international humanitarian law to protect civilians. 
 
Together with the directors of 14 international NGOs, we are calling for: 

• The immediate cessation of hostilities and the use of explosive weapons in populated areas; 

• Comprehensive protection of civilians, humanitarian workers, and critical civilian infrastructure, including hospitals, schools, and water systems; 

• Absolute respect for international humanitarian law by all parties involved; 

• A firm commitment to political solutions that halt the escalation of the conflict. 

As the war devastates communities, many of which have already endured years of violence and displacement, the need for humanitarian support is urgent.

The Middle East emergency appeal supports our doctors and nurses reach people in need and provide lifesaving healthcare across the region. If you can, please donate here.

War in the Middle East: Doctors of the World calls for the protection of civilians and strengthens its response to humanitarian needs

Since the start of U.S. and Israeli airstrikes on Iran, and the Iranian retaliations in several Middle Eastern countries, thousands of civilians have already been affected. Doctors of the World stresses that protecting these civilians must be a priority and we are ready to respond to their health needs in the countries where we operate.

As the conflict spreads across the region, there are growing fears of devastating consequences for civilians, including people already suffering from years of conflict.

“Doctors of the World is present in several countries in the region: Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, Yemen, Iraq. All our colleagues are currently safe. In Gaza, we are doing our utmost to maintain essential activities, especially in clinics, but aid remains largely insufficient and hindered, while needs are enormous.

In Lebanon, the bombings have caused forced population displacement; some of our colleagues based in the south have had to flee their homes in search of safe shelter. Our teams are assessing needs and preparing to intervene jointly with the Lebanese Ministry of Health in the coming days.”

“We are closely monitoring the humanitarian situation of Iranian civilians and evaluating ways to assist them in neighbouring countries as well as in Iran,” explains Caroline Bedos Esteban, Head of the Middle East Division at Doctors of the World.

Doctors of the World calls for the protection of civilians and reminds that civilian infrastructure, including hospitals and schools, is protected under international humanitarian law and must never be targeted. We also emphasise that humanitarian aid must never be conditional or politicised: the needs of people must come first.

Health, Abortion Rights, LGBTQI+ Rights, Diversity: Millions of people threatened by a U.S. Law 

Reinstated by the U.S. administration on January 24, 2025, the Global Gag Rule (Mexico City Policy) prohibits organisations receiving U.S. funding from providing or even sharing information on abortion. Today, February 26, 2026, a new extension of this law comes into effect, further conditioning these funds on the absence of any “promotion” of actions related to LGBTQI+ rights or to diversity, equity, and inclusion policies. Doctors of the World warns of the severe and immediate consequences for the health, rights, and lives of millions of people around the world.

The extension of the Global Gag Rule represents an unprecedented threat posed by U.S. policies to the rights and health of the most vulnerable populations. Organisations funded by the U.S. were already prohibited from offering or even communicating about access to abortion. They will now also be required not to mention actions related to LGBTQI+ rights or to diversity, equity, and inclusion policies. 

Beyond the directly affected organisations, the extended rule could also apply to international and multilateral institutions, including United Nations agencies that receive U.S. funds before reallocating them to structures or programs focused on health or human rights, including the protection of LGBTQI+ people, diversity, equity, and inclusion. 

The extension of the Global Gag Rule is another example of humanitarian aid being turned into a tool to push political and ideological agendas.

“This decision marks a major and ideological setback in U.S. foreign policy. The Global Gag Rule – and now its extension – strangles health systems, censors medical information, and forces organisations into an impossible choice: abandon essential care or lose funding. It constitutes a violation of the rights to health, information, and freedom of expression, and diverts international aid from its fundamental purpose: responding to people’s needs. Health must come before politics,” warns Sandrine Simon, Advocacy Director at Doctors of the World France. 

53 International NGOs warn Israel’s recent registration measures will impede critical humanitarian action

International humanitarian organisations operating in the occupied Palestinian territory warn that Israel’s recent registration measures threaten to halt INGO operations at a time when civilians face acute and widespread humanitarian need, despite the ceasefire in Gaza. On 30 December, 37 INGOs received official notification that their registrations would expire on 31 December 2025. This triggers a 60-day period after which INGOs would be required to cease operations in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

INGOs are integral to the humanitarian response, working in partnership with the United Nations and Palestinian civil society organisations to deliver lifesaving assistance at scale. The United Nations, the Humanitarian Country Team, and donor governments have repeatedly affirmed that INGOs are indispensable to humanitarian and development operations and have urged Israel to reverse course.

Despite the ceasefire, humanitarian needs remain extreme. In Gaza, one in four families survives on just one meal a day. Winter storms have displaced tens of thousands, leaving 1.3 million people in urgent need of shelter. INGOs deliver more than half of all food assistance in Gaza, run or support 60 per cent of field hospitals, implement nearly three-quarters of shelter and non-food item activities, and provide all treatment for children with severe acute malnutrition. Their removal would close health facilities, halt food distributions, collapse shelter pipelines, and cut off life-saving care. In the West Bank, ongoing military raids and settler violence continue to drive displacement. Further restrictions on INGOs would sharply reduce the reach and continuity of lifesaving assistance at a critical moment.

Recent efforts to assess the impact of deregistering INGOs through selective metrics do not capture how humanitarian assistance is delivered in practice. Humanitarian access must be measured by whether civilians receive the right assistance, in the right place, at the right time.

INGOs operate under strict donor-mandated compliance frameworks, including audits, counter-terror financing controls, and due diligence requirements that meet international standards. More than 500 humanitarian workers have been killed since 7 October 2023. INGOs cannot transfer sensitive personal data to a party to the conflict since this would breach humanitarian principles, duty of care and data
protection obligations. False narratives delegitimise humanitarian organisations, endanger staff, and undermine the delivery of assistance.

This is not a technical or administrative matter, but a deliberate policy choice with foreseeable consequences. If registrations are allowed to lapse, the Israeli government will obstruct humanitarian assistance at scale. Humanitarian access is not optional, conditional, or political. It is a legal obligation under international humanitarian law. This move would also set a dangerous precedent by extending Israeli authority over humanitarian operations in the occupied Palestinian territory, contrary to the internationally recognised legal framework governing the territory and the role of the Palestinian Authority.

We call on the Government of Israel to immediately halt deregistration proceedings and lift measures obstructing humanitarian assistance. We urge donor governments to use all available leverage to secure the suspension and reversal of these actions. Independent, principled humanitarian operations must be protected to ensure civilians can receive the assistance they urgently need.

Notes:

• The role of INGOs is irreplaceable across all humanitarian sectors:
  • Health: INGOs run or support approximately 60 percent of Gaza’s field hospitals. Deregistration would result in the immediate closure of roughly one in three health facilities.
  • Food security: INGOs delivered more than half of all food assistance in 2024, including the majority of cooked-meal distribution points.
  • Shelter: INGOs have implemented nearly three-quarters of all shelter and non-food item activities. Approximately 600,000 shelter items are currently in INGO supply pipelines.
  • Water and sanitation: INGOs deliver 42 percent of all WASH services, including outbreak prevention and response for acute watery diarrhea.
  • Nutrition: INGOs support all five stabilization centers treating children with severe acute malnutrition, representing 100 percent of Gaza’s treatment capacity.
  • Mine action: INGOs provide more than half of all funding for explosive hazard clearance. Removal of INGOs would result in capacity reductions of up to 100 percent.
  • Education: INGOs run or support around 30 percent of emergency education activities, which already reach only a limited proportion of the school-age population.
• Principled humanitarian organizations cannot transfer sensitive personal data of national staff or their families. This is consistent with humanitarian principles, duty-of-care obligations, and global data-protection standard applied across all contexts.
• Restrictions on INGOs also directly affect Palestinian and Israeli partner organisations, undermining local response capacity, disrupting funding flows, and weakening community-based service delivery across sectors.
• INGOs are legally authorised to operate and remain committed to delivering humanitarian assistance through UN coordination systems and local partnerships, while continuing to seek the removal of measures that obstruct aid delivery.

UK Asylum Reform: Assault on the Fundamental Right to Asylum 

In our clinics, we see the people affected by the asylum system every day.  They are mothers, fathers, children; people who have survived war, torture, and unimaginable poverty. Against all odds, they have made it to the UK, only to be met by a broken asylum system and successive governments encroaching on their fundamental right to asylum and health. 

We have seen this before, in countries like Greece and Australia. Harsh asylum rules do not stop people fleeing danger. They force people into prison-like camps in remote places, overcrowded detention centres, and onto even more dangerous journeys to find safety.  

The Government’s most recent proposed changes will push an already failing system to new extremes of harm. Stripping housing and support from families who are fighting to survive will push people onto the streets and at risk of abusers and traffickers who exploit their lack of resources and safeguards. 

Giving refugees a temporary status of just 30 months gives politicians the power to decide where people can live and when they have to leave. It could mean children who have grown up in the UK could be pulled out of school and sent to places they barely know. In some cases, to countries still shattered by conflict, where healthcare and basic services barely function. All this uncertainty fear, and instability only adds to the trauma they are carrying. 

Instead of spending millions of our country’s national budget to move people into camps, that money could be used to ease pressure on the many struggling in the UK.  

These policies do not make the UK safer or fairer for anyone. What we need is a competent and efficient refugee protection system that prioritises the health and wellbeing of people seeking safety and suitable housing for all who need it. 

This is what humanity looks like. This is what truly matters. 

Hurricane Melissa: Haiti severely hit by torrential rains and massive flooding 

With gusts exceeding 250 km/h and torrential rains, Hurricane Melissa devastated parts of the Caribbean at the end of October. In Haiti, 1.25 million people have been affected, according to the latest UN figures. Doctors of the World is mobilising its response. 

Doctors of the World has been active in Haiti since 1995, working to improve access to healthcare, promote sexual and reproductive health, and combat gender-based violence (GBV). Our humanitarian teams collaborate with partners and local organisations to meet the essential needs of communities affected by recurring crises. In February 2025, OCHA was already reporting that six million people, half of the population, were in need of humanitarian assistance.

Hurricane Melissa, among the most powerful ever recorded, caused flash floods and widespread inundations. In Haiti’s Grand Sud region and the West department, rivers such as La Digue and Rivière Grise overflowed, submerging neighbourhoods and homes, sweeping away farmland, and triggering massive mudslides. 

Many families have lost everything. The humanitarian situation is extremely concerning, and relief and clearing operations remain difficult due to limited resources and restricted access to the affected areas. 

“Our health staff are fully mobilised in the main reception centre, where the most affected people have found refuge. At the same time, our psychologists and facilitators are supporting adults and children, providing essential psychological assistance.” 

— Frédérique Chevalier, General Coordinator of Doctors of the World in Haiti, based in Petit-Goâve 

Doctors of the World’s emergency response: health, protection, and support for economic recovery 

In the face of this crisis, Doctors of the World is deploying an emergency response to meet the vital needs of affected communities: 

Access to healthcare and prevention of waterborne diseases 

Our mobile health teams are providing free medical consultations in the affected areas. At the same time, awareness sessions on waterborne diseases and good hygiene practices are being organised, along with the distribution of water filters and effervescent tablets to disinfect clear water and make it safe for consumption, ensuring access to drinking water. 

Psychological support for adults and children 

Doctors of the World is setting up a mental health support system, including the training of community agents, psychological consultations, and support groups. Artistic workshops are also offered to help children overcome their trauma. 

Protection against gender-based violence 

Medical care for survivors of gender-based violence is being integrated into the mobile clinics. In addition, awareness sessions and workshops on positive masculinity are being conducted to strengthen the protection of women and girls. 

Economic recovery for affected households 

To help families quickly regain autonomy, the most vulnerable households are receiving direct financial assistance to restart their livelihoods. 

Doctors of the World remains fully mobilised alongside Haitian communities to respond to the emergency, protect the most vulnerable, and support sustainable recovery after the devastating passage of Hurricane Melissa. 

Gaza: Doctors of the World Calls for a Permanent Ceasefire for Lasting Peace 

A ceasefire and hostage release agreement in Gaza has been announced. Doctors of the World welcomes this development after two years of war and genocide. However, Doctors of the World calls for an immediate and permanent ceasefire, an essential condition for the massive delivery of humanitarian aid and the establishment of lasting peace. 

After two years of genocidal war, months of blockade, and famine, this agreement brings a glimmer of hope for the population of Gaza, as well as for the hostages and their families. However, we know this agreement is fragile. Twice since October 2023, the hope for peace has emerged, only to be replaced each time by renewed violence against Gaza’s civilian population and a total blockade pushing Gazans toward famine. This is why Doctors of the World calls for a permanent ceasefire. Respect for the terms of the agreement by all parties, including the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip, is the only way to envision lasting peace. 

The priority now, to relieve the suffering of Gaza’s population, must be the lifting of all restrictions and the massive entry of humanitarian convoys to meet the immense needs of the population. Doctors of the World already has a mobile clinic and 115 pallets prepositioned at the border, ready to deliver medicines and medical supplies. We also call on Israeli and U.S. authorities to promptly end the food distribution system established in February 2025 under the name Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). Each distribution orchestrated by GHF has resulted in dozens of civilian deaths, in complete disregard of international humanitarian law. We condemn the politicisation of aid and its transformation into a weapon of war. We call on all states to support aid based on humanitarian principles, delivered by impartial Palestinian and international organisations, and coordinated by the United Nations. 

“This deal represents a cautious but genuine glimmer of hope following two years of indiscriminate violence and profound human suffering. It must now serve as a foundation for a durable ceasefire and create the conditions necessary for the people of Gaza to organise and rebuild. We hope to see our colleagues safe and sound as soon as possible,”

says Simon Tyler, Executive Director of Doctors of the World. 

The international community must ensure the implementation of United Nations and International Court of Justice decisions. The reconstruction of Gaza, particularly its healthcare system, which has been systematically targeted and destroyed by the Israeli army, must be a priority. This must include the urgent rehabilitation of hospitals and health centres. Doctors of the World teams are ready to support and contribute to this essential reconstruction effort, led by Palestinians, alongside local and international NGOs. 

To save lives, Palestine recognition must come with action: States must stop Israel’s crimes and ensure Palestinian agency

Most countries recognise Palestinian statehood, yet Israel’s international law violations are accelerating, with near-total impunity, causing mass displacement, widespread death, and an escalating humanitarian crisis throughout the occupied Palestinian territory. For real impact and to avoid complicity, States must turn their expressions of solidarity into concrete, life-saving action, and any plans for a way forward must place Palestinians as the main architects of their own future.

Statehood recognition is an important, welcome step in the realisation of the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination. It cannot remain symbolic, or be treated as a reward. Importantly, it doesn’t absolve Member States of their legal and moral obligations to put an end to the Israeli occupation in the occupied Palestinian territory (Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem) – which the International Court of Justice has determined to be illegal and in violation of Palestinians’ right to self-determination – and to stop what the UN Commision of Inquiry has determined to be a genocide carried out by Israel in Gaza.

The escalating humanitarian crisis driven by these actions is widely known and documented. Just in the past two years, Israeli eviction orders, demolitions, blockages, arbitrary arrests and direct attacks on people, have triggered the largest forced displacement in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since the start of the occupation in 1967.

The largest land theft in three decades was officially approved last year, and violence by settlers is at an all-time high.

In Gaza, Israeli authorities have been carrying out a deadly military operation that has killed or injured over 136,000 people, forced 2 million people to flee several times, and destroyed 90% of the buildings. Throughout Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, Israeli forces have attacked 1,700 health facilities. They have restricted free movement – through military checkpoints, gates, barriers, corridors and no-go zones – with devastating consequences on communities’ ability to access livelihoods, medical care, education and other vital services.

World leaders cannot claim ignorance. Even as 4 in 5 countries globally recognise the State of Palestine, the Israeli parliament recently approved a motion to completely annex the West Bank including East Jerusalem, where 3.3 million Palestinians live, and Israeli officials have reiterated their intention to pursue “complete sovereignty” over the West Bank, stating that “there is no Palestinian people and no Palestinian State” and that “the place belongs to [Israelis]”. Similar intentions have been openly declared for all of Gaza.

Such declarations are no longer fringe: they show what is driving the accelerated erasure of a people. Israel’s fragmentation and annexation of land internationally recognized as Palestinian is rendering the prospect of a viable Palestinian State less and less realistic.

Acting is not optional. The International Court of Justice clarified in July 2024 that all UN Member States are obligated to not recognize or support Israel’s unlawful occupation, including through trade and investments. Moreover, the UN Commission of Inquiry has determined that all States must “take all necessary steps to try to avoid or stop the commission of genocide”.

Just in the few weeks that have passed since several additional countries recognised the State of Palestine, hundreds of Palestinians have been killed and more than 1,500 have been injured by Israeli fire across the occupied Palestinian territory. The military takeover of Gaza City has accelerated in scope and brutality: deadly strikes on tents, housing units and public buildings have forced tens of thousands to flee once more, though most people have nowhere to go; several health care facilities in the north have had to shut down leaving hundreds of thousands with very limited access to medical care. In the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, settler attacks and military incursions and arrestshave intensified. Dozens of Palestinian structures have been demolished. The Israeli parliament’s National Security Committee has advanced discussions to restrict humanitarian access to prisons where over 9,500 Palestinians are held as well as a law to authorise the death penalty for detainees.

With each hour of delay, another family is shattered, another child starves, another home is reduced to dust, another piece of Palestinian life is erased.

To avoid the outcome of having a State of Palestine without Palestinians, and to prevent Israeli forces and settlers from taking additional punitive action against communities, States must use every available political, economic, and legal tool at their disposal for:

• An immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza, and for Palestinians to own and lead their own (re)construction plans and process, in line with their inalienable right to self-determination
• An end to Israel’s illegal occupation of the entire occupied Palestinian territory, ensuring the conditions needed for Palestinians to stay in their land
• Unrestricted UN-coordinated humanitarian access and protection, as enshrined in international humanitarian law, throughout the occupied Palestinian territory
• An end to trade with illegal settlements, including the provision of services and investments
• An immediate halt to all arms sales and transfers to Israel
• Accountability for crimes committed
• The immediate reopening of a corridor linking Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, for medical evacuations and other purposes

Signed by (alphabetical order):

1. ActionAid International
2. Al Awda Health and Community Association
3. American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)
4. Arab Educational Institute – Pax Christi Bethlehem / Palestine
5. Bystanders No More
6. Child Rights International Network (CRIN)
7. Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP)
8. CIDSE – International Family of Catholic Social Justice Organisations
9. Doctors of the World – Médecins du Monde International Network (MdM)
10. Emmaus International
11. Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect
12. Global Legal Action Network (GLAN)
13. HelpAge International
14. Insecurity Insight
15. KinderUSA
16. NGO Committee on Disarmament, Peace and Security
17. Norwegian Peoples Aid
18. Oxfam International
19. PARC – Agricultural Development Association
20. Pax Christi International
21. Palestinian Institute for Climate Strategy (PICS)
22. Sabeel-Kairos UK
23. The Middle East Children’s Alliance24. Terre des Hommes Italy
24. United Against Inhumanity

Over the past two years, among other atrocities, Israeli authorities have:

• Forced at least 40,000 Palestinians out of their homes in northern West Bank – all-time high since Israel occupation began in 1967 – due to Israeli-ordered demolitions, evictions, and increasing attacks by settlers and armed forces. Another 66,800 at least face a direct risk of forcible transfer, as about 663 km2 of West Bank land is vulnerable to settlement takeover and expansion.
• Approved the largest land theft in the West Bank in three decades in July 2024, as well as over 15,000 units and 22 new illegal settlements in 2025 alone, and established over 121 new outposts. Israeli authorities also gave final approval for the “E1” settlement project, which is effectively cutting off East Jerusalem from the occupied West Bank and further fragmenting the land.
• Bombed Gaza relentlessly, killing at least 66,000, injuring 170,000 and forcing close to 2 million people to flee repeatedly. Over 92% of housing units and 90% of school buildings are destroyed and only 1.5% of cropland is now usable as a result.
• Blocked the entry of vital goods into Gaza, including an 11-week complete siege that led to extreme starvation, with famine confirmed in the north, and severe shortages in health facilities.
• Attacked health care facilities close to 1,700 times across the occupied Palestinian territory.
• Imposed countless movement restrictions across the occupied Palestinian territory in the form of militarised corridors, checkpoints and no-go zones in Gaza (82% of the land is now inaccessible), and over 800 gates, checkpoints and barriers in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, with devastating consequences on people’s ability to access livelihoods, health care, education and other vital services.

Quotes

“Recognizing Palestine means little while bombs are still falling on our homes and our children are going to sleep hungry and afraid. What Palestinians need is not another statement, but an end to this war and the chance to live with safety and dignity, a chance to build a life for our children and not to just merely survive”.

– Bahaa Zaqout, Director at the Agriculture Development Association (PARC), in Gaza

“The recognition of the Palestinian state by so many countries is a very important step forward in acknowledging our right to have an independent state. We received this message as people in Gaza, at a time when hundreds of thousands are fleeing toward the central area of Mawasi—displaced from the south into an unsafe, inhumane zone. This is a critical moment that the people of Gaza are enduring. I hope the leaders around the world, as they meet, will do everything in their power to end this genocide, to stop the war, and to put an end to the suffocation and suffering. Children facing malnutrition are enduring daily attacks— airstrikes, the closure of crossings, and the denial of basic necessities. These children need protection. Action is urgently needed—now—to stop this war, to stop this genocide, and to protect the people of Gaza.”

– Amjad Shawa, Director of the Palestinian NGO Network, in Gaza

“For the residents of Gaza, this recognition represents a gateway, perhaps the only hope, to halt these daily acts of aggression against the city of Gaza and the entire Gaza Strip. We, residents of Gaza, believe that this recognition will be meaningless unless it leads to a complete ceasefire and a long lasting peace. As humanitarian workers and those monitoring the displaced population, we, along with them, are waiting for a complete ceasefire and the restoration of normal life in Gaza—the rebuilding of infrastructure, the reopening of schools, universities, hospitals, and so on. These are the hopes we associate with this recognition process, and this recognition will be hollow if the hostilities, war, and military operations continue to escalate from one area to another.”

– NGO aid worker, in Gaza

“There’s a genocide and an apartheid happening and countries are busy prioritizing recognizing Palestine? It’s good that they recognize it, but it’s the fulfilment of a duty and of a promise made decades ago. In the meantime, the world continues to allow the killings and the demolitions, without any significant consequences.”

– Basel Adra, community member of Masafer Yatta and film director, in the West Bank

“The [British] Government’s recognition of Palestine as a state must be followed by concrete action. Israeli forces are obliterating Gaza City, while in the West Bank, Israel advances annexation and expulsions. Palestinians, and the British public, expect comprehensive sanctions, no military collaboration, and an end to British participation in this ongoing genocide.”

– Dr Sara Husseini, Director of the British Palestinian Committee

European states must condemn attacks on the Global Sumud Flotilla

Five humanitarian, environmental and human rights organisations denounce the latest illegal drone attacks which took place on the night of 23–24 September against the Global Sumud Flotilla, a peaceful initiative aimed at breaking Israel’s unlawful siege of the Gaza Strip.

Given the risks faced by the hundreds of peaceful activists and journalists on board, and in light of the catastrophic situation of the Palestinian people in Gaza, subjected to famine and deprived of medical care as a result of an illegal blockade, we call on third states, and European states in particular, to publicly condemn the attacks on the flotilla. They must also press the Israeli authorities to allow the safe passage of the flotilla and ensure the urgent delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza.

In the past two years, indiscriminate and systematic bombardments of Gaza have killed more than 65,000 people and destroyed or damaged 92% of its buildings. Israel’s siege, combined with restrictions placed on humanitarian organisations operating there, has compounded the suffering of Palestinians, driving famine and a collapse in healthcare. Since October 2023, at least 543 humanitarian workers have been killed, including 373 United Nations staff and associates.

Against this backdrop, the fifty vessels of the Global Sumud Flotilla, carrying humanitarian aid and several hundred participants from 45 countries, seek, through peaceful action, to mobilise the international community and to break Israel’s cruel and unlawful blockade, imposed on Gaza’s population for 18 years and intensified since October 2023.

After earlier attacks in Tunisia, activists and journalists on board reported explosions and multiple drone strikes during the night of 23–24 September as the flotilla sailed through international waters off the coast of Greece.

The Gaza flotillas are important expressions of citizen solidarity with Palestinians under siege, hunger and suffering. They help keep attention on the situation in Gaza, and they step into the void left by states through the continued inaction of the international community. Though modest, their delivery of aid is essential in the face of famine and the ongoing genocide.

To attack these ships is unacceptable. This coalition of humanitarian civil society organisations acts in full compliance with international law: humanitarian operations and journalistic coverage during armed conflicts are explicitly protected under international humanitarian law.

These attacks come just as a United Nations Commission of Inquiry has concluded that Israel is committing the crime of genocide in Gaza, echoing findings in recent months by several international human rights organisations (Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, FIDH), Israeli groups (B’Tselem, Physicians for Human Rights), and Palestinian organisations (Al Haq, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, and others).

Nothing can justify blocking humanitarian aid to Gaza when the population is starving and living in catastrophic conditions caused by genocide. States must increase pressure on Israel to guarantee the safe passage of the flotilla, and must act to ensure the immediate lifting of Israel’s unlawful blockade on Gaza, allowing for the unhindered entry and distribution of humanitarian assistance and vital supplies.

• Doctors of the World (Médecins du Monde International Network)
• Amnesty International France
• Reporter Sans Frontières
• Greenpeace France
• Médecins Sans Frontières Pays-Bas

GAZA: Leaders of major aid groups call on world leaders to intervene following UN genocide conclusion 

The leaders of over 20 major aid agencies working in Gaza are calling on world leaders to urgently intervene after a UN commission concluded, for the first time, that genocide is being committed. 

The statement is below: 

“As world leaders convene next week at the United Nations, we are calling on all member states to act in accordance with the mandate the UN was charged with 80 years ago. 

What we are witnessing in Gaza is not only an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe, but what the UN Commission of Inquiry has now concluded is a genocide. 

With this finding, the Commission joins a growing number of human rights organisations and leaders globally, and within Israel. 

The inhumanity of the situation in Gaza is unconscionable. As humanitarian leaders, we have borne direct witness to the horrifying deaths and suffering of the people of Gaza. Our warnings have gone unheeded and thousands more lives are still at stake. 

Now, as the Israeli government has ordered the mass displacement of Gaza City – home to nearly one million people – we are on the precipice of an even deadlier period in Gaza’s story if action is not taken. Gaza has been deliberately made uninhabitable. 

About 65,000 Palestinians have now been killed, including more than 20,000 children. Thousands more are missing, buried under the rubble that has replaced Gaza’s once lively streets. Nine out of 10 people in Gaza’s 2.1 million population have been forcibly displaced – most of them multiple times – into increasingly shrinking pockets of land that cannot sustain human life. 

More than half a million people are starving. Famine has been declared and is spreading. The cumulative impact of hunger and physical deprivation means people are dying every day. 

Throughout Gaza, entire cities have been razed to the ground, along with their life-sustaining public infrastructure, such as hospitals and water treatment plants. Agricultural land has been systemically destroyed. 

If the facts and numbers aren’t enough, we have harrowing story upon harrowing story. 

Since the Israeli military tightened its siege six months ago, blocking food, fuel, and medicine, we witnessed children and families waste away from starvation as famine took hold. Our colleagues too have been impacted. 

Many of us have been into Gaza. We have met countless Palestinians who have lost limbs as a result of Israel’s bombardment. We have personally met children so traumatized by daily airstrikes that they cannot sleep. Some cannot speak. Others have told us they want to die to join their parents in heaven. 

We have met families who eat animal food to survive and boil leaves as a meal for their children. 

Yet world leaders fail to act. Facts are ignored. Testimony is cast aside. And more people are killed as a direct consequence. 

Our organisations, together with Palestinian civil society groups, the UN, and Israeli human rights organisations, can only do so much. We have tirelessly tried to defend the rights of the people of Gaza and sustain humanitarian assistance, but we are being obstructed every step of the way. 

We have been denied access, and the militarization of the aid system has proved deadly. Thousands of people have been shot at while trying to reach the handful of sites where food is distributed under armed guard. 

Governments must act to prevent the evisceration of life in the Gaza Strip, and to end the violence and occupation. All parties must disavow violence against civilians, adhere to international humanitarian law and pursue peace. 

States must use every available political, economic, and legal tool at their disposal to intervene. Rhetoric and half measures are not enough. This moment demands decisive action. 

The UN enshrined international law as the cornerstone of global peace and security. If Member States continue to treat these legal obligations as optional, they are not only complicit but are setting a dangerous precedent for the future. History will undoubtedly judge this moment as a test of humanity. And we are failing. Failing the people of Gaza, failing the hostages, and failing our own collective moral imperative. 

• Simon Tyler, Doctors of the World UK
• Arthur Larok, Secretary General of ActionAid International 
• Othman Moqbel, Chief Executive Officer, Action For Humanity 
• Joyce Ajlouny, General Secretary of American Friends Service Committee 
• Sean Carroll, President and CEO of Anera 
• Reintje Van Haeringen, Executive Director CARE International 
• Kate Higgins, CEO of Cooperation Canada 
• Jonas Nøddekær, Secretary General of DanChurchAid 
• Charlotte Slente, Secretary General of the Danish Refugee Council 
• Manuel Patrouillard, Managing Director, Humanity & Inclusion – Handicap International 
• Jamie Munn, Executive Director, International Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA) 
• Mahmood Qasim, CEO of International Development and Relief Foundation 
• Waseem Ahmad, CEO, Islamic Relief Worldwide 
• Jeremy Konyndyk, President of Refugees International 
• Joseph Belliveau, Executive Director of MedGlobal 
• Joel Weiler, Executive Director of Médecins du Monde France 
• Nicolás Dotta, Executive Director of Médecins du Monde Spain 
• Morgane Rousseau, CEO of Médecins du Monde Suisse 
• Christopher Lockyear, Secretary General of Médecins Sans Frontières International 
• Kenneth Kim, Executive Director, Mennonite Central Committee Canada 
• Ann Graber Hershberger, Executive Director, Mennonite Central Committee US 
• Jan Egeland, Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council 
• Amitabh Behar, Oxfam International Executive Director 
• Simon Panek, CEO, People in Need 
• Inger Ashing, CEO of Save the Children International 
• Donatella Vergara, President of Terre des Hommes Italy 
• Rob Williams, CEO of War Child Alliance

As famine spreads across Gaza, our colleagues and those we serve are wasting away

More than 100 organisations issue an urgent call to allow humanitarian aid through

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As the siege imposed by the Israeli government starves Gaza’s population, humanitarian workers are now lining up at the same food distributions, risking being shot simply for trying to feed their families. With supplies now completely depleted, aid organisations are watching their own staff and partners waste away before their eyes.

Exactly two months after the launch of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation—an organisation overseen by the Israeli government—over one hundred organisations are raising the alarm, urging governments to act. They are calling for: the opening of all land crossings; the full restoration of food, clean water, medical supplies, basic essentials and fuel via a UN-led mechanism based on humanitarian principles; an end to the siege; and the implementation of an immediate ceasefire.

“Every morning, the same question echoes across the Gaza Strip: will I eat today?” reported a representative from one of the organisations.

Massacres are occurring on an almost daily basis at food distribution sites in Gaza. As of 13 July, the UN confirmed that 875 Palestinians had been killed while trying to access food—201 of them on aid delivery routes, with the rest at distribution points. Thousands more have been injured.

At the same time, Israeli forces have forcibly displaced nearly two million exhausted people. The most recent mass displacement order, issued on 20 July, has confined the Palestinian population to less than 12% of Gaza’s territory. The World Food Programme warns that current conditions are making operations unmanageable. Starving civilians as a method of warfare constitutes a war crime.

Just outside Gaza, in warehouses, and even within Gaza itself, tonnes of food, drinking water, medical supplies, basic goods, and fuel remain untouched. Humanitarian organisations are being blocked from accessing or distributing them.

The restrictions, delays and fragmentation imposed by the Israeli government under its total siege have created chaos, famine, and death. A humanitarian worker providing psychosocial support described the devastating impact on children: “Children tell their parents they want to go to heaven, because at least there, there’s food.”

Doctors are reporting record levels of acute malnutrition, especially among children and the elderly. Diseases such as acute diarrhoea are spreading, markets are empty, rubbish is piling up, and adults are collapsing in the streets from hunger and dehydration. On average, only 28 aid trucks are entering Gaza each day; far from sufficient for over two million people, many of whom have received no aid in weeks.

The UN-led humanitarian system has not failed; it has been prevented from functioning.

Humanitarian agencies have the capacity and resources to respond on a large scale. But with access denied, we are unable to reach those in need, including our own exhausted, starving teams.

On 10 July, the European Union and Israel announced new measures to scale up humanitarian assistance. But these promises of “progress” ring hollow without meaningful change on the ground. Every day without sustained humanitarian aid means more people dying of preventable diseases. Children are starving while waiting for promises that never materialise.

Palestinians are trapped in a cycle of hope and despair, waiting for aid and a ceasefire, only to wake each day to ever-worsening conditions. This is not only physical suffering; it is psychological trauma. Survival feels like a mirage. The humanitarian system cannot operate on empty promises. Aid organisations cannot function on shifting timelines or await political commitments that fail to deliver access to the population.

Governments must stop waiting for permission to act. We cannot continue to hope the current arrangements will work. It is time to take decisive action: demand an immediate and permanent ceasefire; lift all bureaucratic and administrative restrictions; open all land crossings; ensure access to all people throughout the Gaza Strip; reject military-controlled distribution models; restore a humanitarian response led by the UN and grounded in humanitarian principles; and continue funding impartial, principled humanitarian organisations. States must take concrete steps to end the siege, including halting the transfer of weapons and ammunition.

Fragmentary measures and symbolic gestures, such as airdrops or inadequate aid deals, only serve to mask inaction. They cannot replace the legal and moral obligations of states to protect Palestinian civilians and ensure meaningful, large-scale access. States can and must save lives—before there are no lives left to save.

Signatories

1. American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)
2. A.M. Qattan Foundation
3. A New Policy
4. ACT Alliance
5. Action Against Hunger (ACF)
6. Action for Humanity
7. ActionAid International
8. American Baptist Churches Palestine Justice Network
9. Amnesty International
10. Asamblea de Cooperación por la Paz
11. Associazione Cooperazione e Solidarietà (ACS)
12. Bystanders No More
13. Campain
14. CARE
15. Caritas Germany
16. Caritas Internationalis
17. Caritas Jerusalem
18. Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD)
19. Center for Mind-Body Medicine (CMBM)
20. CESVI Fondazione
21. Children Not Numbers
22. Christian Aid
23. Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP)
24. CIDSE- International Family of Catholic Social Justice Organisations
25. Cooperazione Internazionale Sud Sud (CISS)
26. Council for Arab‑British Understanding (CAABU)
27. DanChurchAid (DCA)
28. Danish Refugee Council (DRC)
29. Development and Peace – Caritas Canada
30. Doctors against Genocide
31. Episcopal Peace Fellowship
32. EuroMed Rights
33. Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL)
34. Forum Ziviler Friedensdienst e.V.
35. Gender Action for Peace and Security
36. Glia
37. Global Legal Action Network (GLAN)
38. Global Witness
39. Health Workers 4 Palestine
40. HelpAge International
41. Human Concern International
42. Humanity & Inclusion (HI)
43. Humanity First UK
44. Indiana Center for Middle East Peace
45. Insecurity Insight
46. International Media Support
47. International NGO Safety Organisation
48. Islamic Relief
49. Jahalin Solidarity
50. Japan International Volunteer Center (JVC)
51. Justice for All
52. Kenya Association of Muslim Medical Professionals (KAMMP)
53. Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation
54. MedGlobal
55. Medico International
56. Medico International Switzerland (medico international schweiz)
57. Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP)
58. Mennonite Central Committee (MCC)
59. Medicine for the People – Belgium (MPLP/GVHV)
60. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)
61. Médecins du Monde/ Doctors of the World
62. Mercy Corps
63. Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA)
64. Movement for Peace (MPDL)
65. Muslim Aid
66. National Justice and Peace Network in England and Wales
67. Nonviolence International
68. Norwegian Aid Committee (NORWAC)
69. Norwegian Church Aid (NCA)
70. Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA)
71. Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC)
72. Oxfam International
73. Pax Christi England and Wales
74. Pax Christi International
75. Pax Christi Merseyside
76. Pax Christi USA
77. Pal Law Commission
78. Palestinian American Medical Association
79. Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF)
80. Palestinian Medical Relief Society (PMRS)
81. Peace Direct
82. Peace Winds
83. Pediatricians for Palestine
84. People in Need
85. Plan International
86. Première Urgence Internationale (PUI)
87. Progettomondo
88. Project HOPE
89. Quaker Palestine Israel Network
90. Rebuilding Alliance
91. Refugees International
92. Saferworld
93. Sabeel‑Kairos UK
94. Save the Children (SCI)
95. Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund
96. Solidarités International
97. Støtteforeningen Det Danske Hus i Palæstina
98. Swiss Church Aid (HEKS/EPER)
99. Terre des Hommes Italia
100. Terre des Hommes Lausanne
101. Terre des Hommes Nederland
102. The Borgen Project
103. The Center for Mind-Body Medicine (CMBM)
104. The Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect (GCR2P)
105. The International Development and Relief Foundation
106. The Institute for the Understanding of Anti‑Palestinian Racism
107. Un Ponte Per (UPP)
108. United Against Inhumanity (UAI)
109. War Child Alliance
110. War Child UK
111. War on Want
112. Weltfriedensdienst e.V.
113. Welthungerhilfe (WHH)