• The U.S.- and Israel-led humanitarian aid effort in Gaza is failing to meet urgent needs, with critics arguing it serves more to deflect blame than provide real relief.
• Aid deliveries are marred by chaos, militarised distribution, and accusations of systemic cruelty, as starvation drives desperate civilians to seize food directly from convoys.
The much-promoted humanitarian aid effort led by the U.S. and Israel is not only failing to meet urgent needs—it is, by design, failing the people it claims to help. While aid convoys are heralded as lifelines, their meagre deliveries are met with desperation, chaos, and accusations of systemic cruelty masquerading as relief.
The World Food Programme (WFP) reported that 77 aid trucks were stopped by starving civilians, who took food directly from the vehicles.
“After nearly 80 days of a total blockade, starving people will not let a food truck pass,” said WFP spokeswoman Abeer Etefa.
UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher said, “We’re seeing food sat on the borders and not being allowed in when there is a population on the other side of the border that is starving.”
Despite the appearance of assistance, the U.S.-Israel backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) has been labelled by observers as a means of deflecting accountability from the siege that made the aid necessary in the first place.
The militarised nature of the GHF operation has only intensified criticism. Armed contractors at aid drop points have deployed smoke, warning shots, and crowd dispersal tactics. Rather than facilitating relief, these measures have heightened fear and disorder, leaving many without food and further traumatising an already broken population.
Though GHF claims it has delivered over two million meals, UN agencies have distanced themselves, citing violations of neutrality and the bypassing of established aid protocols. “Aid has become a political tool,” said one UN official anonymously, “not a humanitarian one.”
“This isn’t aid—it’s humiliation. We line up for hours under the sun, only to be turned away or caught in chaos. We are starving, and the world watches.”— A Palestinian resident of Gaza City
As the death toll in Gaza climbs past 54,000 and the threat of famine engulfs the entire population, observers and rights groups are urging the international community not merely to send more food—but to dismantle the structures of control that have turned survival itself into a spectacle.
