Twenty Nine Nations Demand Lifting of Restrictions against Aid into Gaza

Twenty-nine nations and senior European Union officials have issued a joint call on Israel to lift restrictions blocking humanitarian aid into Gaza, warning that famine is unfolding and that immediate action is needed to prevent mass starvation.

“The humanitarian suffering in Gaza has reached unimaginable levels. Famine is unfolding before our eyes. Urgent action is needed now to halt and reverse starvation,” the joint statement said. It urged Israel to authorise all aid shipments and remove operational barriers for humanitarian organisations, warning that new restrictive registration requirements could force international NGOs to leave the occupied Palestinian territories, further worsening conditions.

Signatories include the foreign ministers of Australia, Belgium, Canada, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, alongside top EU representatives. They called for all crossings and routes to be used to allow a surge of aid into Gaza, including food, nutrition supplies, shelter, fuel, clean water, medicine and medical equipment. The statement stressed that civilians, humanitarian workers and medical staff must be protected and lethal force must not be used at distribution points.

The appeal comes as new data from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification shows that two of the three famine thresholds have been breached in parts of Gaza. According to the UN’s food and agriculture, food programme and children’s agencies, more than half a million people are facing famine-like conditions, with 39 percent of the population going days without food. Acute malnutrition among children under five in Gaza City has quadrupled in two months to 16.5 percent, and UNICEF has warned that “emaciated children and babies are dying from malnutrition” while fewer than 15 percent of essential nutrition treatment services remain functional.

Over 320,000 children under five are now at risk of acute malnutrition, with thousands suffering from the deadliest form of undernutrition. June saw 6,500 children admitted for treatment for malnutrition, the highest number since the conflict began, with July already surpassing half that figure in its first two weeks.

FAO Director-General QU Dongyu said people are starving “not because food is unavailable, but because access is blocked, local agrifood systems have collapsed, and families can no longer sustain even the most basic livelihoods.” WFP Executive Director Cindy McCain warned, “We need to flood Gaza with large-scale food aid, immediately and without obstruction. People are already dying of malnutrition.”

The statement also thanked the United States, Qatar and Egypt for efforts towards a ceasefire and stressed that a halt in fighting is needed for hostages to be released and aid to move freely. UN agencies have repeated their calls for a sustained ceasefire, safe and large-scale humanitarian access through all crossings, restoration of essential services including health, water and sewage infrastructure, and the revival of commercial food imports to support local markets.

Without urgent action, humanitarian agencies warn that Gaza faces the imminent risk of a full-scale famine.