Gaza: Aid worker fatalities, attacks on humanitarian zones, and evacuation orders cripple aid delivery
Twenty aid organizations, including Project HOPE, have released a new report on humanitarian access in Gaza, while calling for an immediate and lasting ceasefire. Intensifying Israeli airstrikes in areas where aid organizations are delivering services – including Israeli-designated “humanitarian zones” – and constant evacuation orders are resulting in mass civilian deaths and crippling our ability to provide life-saving assistance.
The decimation of the health system and continuous relocation orders are causing severe overcrowding and stretching already highly constrained resources while exponentially increasing the risk of water-borne and infectious diseases. The World Health Organization (WHO) has reported a high risk of the polio virus in Gaza, threatening to paralyze tens of thousands of children under age five.
Border crossing closures and attacks on aid agencies continue to hamper humanitarian efforts and put aid workers’ lives at risk. On July 13, two NGO staff members were killed, joining an ever-growing list of aid worker casualties in Gaza over the past nearly ten months. On July 21, Israeli forces shot at a clearly marked UN convoy attempting to access Gaza City, despite coordination and approval by the Israeli authorities. Additionally, on July 23, two clearly marked UNICEF convoys were hit by live fire while waiting at a designated holding point in Wadi Gaza as they travelled to reunite five children, including an infant, with their father.
Reports estimate that 86% of Gaza has been placed under “evacuation orders” by Israeli military forces, forcing over two million people to seek shelter in less than 15% of Gaza, which was already one of the world’s highest population densities before the most recent hostilities broke out in October 2023. Nearly 200,000 Palestinians were displaced in the span of five days earlier this month, for instance, including members of Project HOPE’s staff. Civilians are not given sufficient time to flee and have nowhere safe to go. Intense aerial bombardment where civilians were told to flee from Rafah – such as in Khan Younis and Deir al Balah where Project HOPE has health clinics – has been particularly deadly.
“Project HOPE’s ability to provide life-saving assistance for civilians in Gaza is reliant on the unwavering commitment of our deeply courageous and selfless colleagues on the ground. Organizations like ours are operating at great risk and are navigating ever-changing and highly restrictive access challenges that regularly put our staff members’ lives at risk. This is not only deeply unacceptable and heartbreaking – it is a clear violation of the protections we are granted under international humanitarian law,” said Rabih Torbay, Project HOPE’s CEO & President. “We continue to call for unhindered humanitarian access, the release of all hostages, and an immediate and permanent ceasefire – this is the only way we can prevent the loss of more innocent lives.”
Project HOPE is actively supporting Palestinian communities affected by the conflict throughout Gaza and the West Bank via primary health clinics, trauma and surgical surge staffing, medical and hygiene supplies, and mental health support.
###
Access photos and videos here. For media inquiries, contact media@projecthope.org or Courtney Ridgway at +1 707-480-6975.
