Gaza IPC Snapshot Highlights Need for Urgent Humanitarian Assistance to Reach People in Gaza
Statement from Refugees International:
“Today’s IPC Special Snapshot on Gaza finds that while Gaza has moved out of famine, the entire population remains in the pre-famine IPC Phase 4 – and 104,000 people remain in Phase 5 – meaning suffering from extreme lack of food, starvation, destitution, and very high acute malnutrition. This is unacceptable – President Trump’s cease-fire deal promised something far more concrete: an immediate surge of humanitarian assistance capable of restoring predictable daily deliveries of food and other life-saving supplies, along with sufficient fuel and access to keep bakeries running and essential services functioning. That surge was promised to help a population recover from famine and catastrophe and prepare for winter – not merely to cling to survival.
The reasons why are no mystery: over two months into a ceasefire, humanitarian access remains severely constrained. The IPC notes that access fluctuates daily and often depends on day-by-day negotiations – far from the consistent aid deliveries promised in President Trump’s plan. While COGAT has reported that 600 to 800 trucks are entering on average since the ceasefire, these figures include commercial supplies that are often prioritized ahead of aid deliveries yet do not address humanitarian needs. UN-coordinated aid has hovered around 100 trucks a day – well below meeting the dire health, nutrition, shelter and sanitation needs of the population. As a result, over the next 12 months, nearly 101,000 children under five are expected to suffer from acute malnutrition and require treatment, without which they could have life-long issues with reduced cognitive function, stunting, and inability to ward off disease.
On top of unmet nutritional needs, the winterization effort is failing as Gaza’s children are living in sewage-tinged flooding. OCHA has reported that 300,000 tents for 1.5 million displaced people remain blocked from entering by Israeli authorities, putting especially children at risk. The UN has already reported the first death of hypothermia this week: a two-week old newborn boy. In the meantime, storms have flooded makeshift shelters, which then mixes with untreated sewage increasing the likelihood of infection and the spread of disease. The IPC report notes that around 90 percent of caregivers interviewed reported that their children had been sick in the previous two weeks.
Beyond access restrictions, Israel has moved to de-register and limit the operations of international NGOs—taking experienced humanitarian actors off the field at the precise moment Gaza needs them most. All five stabilization centers for children with severe acute malnutrition are supported by INGOs, representing 100 percent of the in-patient capacity to treat children with life-threatening malnutrition in Gaza.
Without a sharp uptick in aid deliveries, Palestinians have little agency to improve conditions themselves. The Israeli military continues to occupy over 50 percent of Gaza, cutting off access to public infrastructure, agricultural land, and fishing – further eroding food security.
This is not stabilization or peace. It remains sustained, large-scale deprivation. The way forward is straightforward: sustained, expanded, and unhindered humanitarian access through all entry points; predictable, safe movement across Gaza; and an immediate halt to measures that disable NGO operations. Months into a ceasefire, Gaza should not be living in emergency. This is not an inevitability. It is a policy choice—and it must be changed.”
For more information or to schedule an interview, please contact Etant Dupain at edupain@refugeesinternational.org.