100 signatures reached
To: Congress
Civilians need humanitarian aid NOW: Stop starvation in Gaza!
International law mandates that Israel has legal responsibilities to protect Palestinian civilians, and to allow humanitarian aid, including food, to reach people, but that has not been the case for months.
Hunger and malnutrition in the region have already exceeded the threshold for famine, but soon those levels will rapidly rise, causing mass devastation on many families and their children.
Netanyahu and the Israeli government last week said it would stop working with the United Nations and Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), blocking necessary food convoys from entering north Gaza and helping civilians on the ground. We cannot let this continue. Immediate action needs to be taken NOW to prevent even more death in Gaza.
Why is this important?
More than 33,000 people have been killed in Gaza since October 7.
And according to the U.N. and world humanitarian organizations, this catastrophe is going to rapidly become a man-made famine because the Israeli government continues to block critical humanitarian aid from entering Gaza.
The United Nations’ World Food Program estimates that at least 300 trucks are needed to enter Gaza every single day here on out to be distribute food to meet the most basic of needs for civilians. and distribute food to meet only the basic hunger needs.
Organizations have been trying to enter Gaza for months to meet the needs of civilians and have been blocked at every step of the way. Recently the Israeli security cabinet approved the opening of the Erez crossing with the Gaza strip for the first time since the October 7 attack, but that’s not nearly enough to account for the mass devastation that has already happened to more than 33,000 civilians in Gaza.
We acknowledge that humanitarian aid will be life-changing for people on-the-ground, but a lack of security and instability will still consume the region and the civilians. The humanitarian needs should be met first, followed by an immediate ceasefire to create and sustain peace for all.