“A Death Sentence” – Aid Agencies Warn of Israel's Assault on Gaza City

Intensified Israeli military attacks on Gaza City and forced displacement orders for the entire city are leaving families with an impossible dilemma: flee and risk death on the road and in overcrowded displacement areas, or stay and face relentless bombardment in their shelters. Starvation and siege await them regardless.

“Our only demand is life,” said Ayman (name changed), a father sheltering with his family in Gaza City. “We are humans just like you. We want to live with dignity and safety, not to die from hunger or bombs.”

Nearly one million Palestinians, starved, grieving, and displaced many times over, remain in Gaza City. If Israel’s operation in Gaza City continues, hospitals will be cut off and attacked, shelters and schools bombed, aid convoys blocked, and those too weak, old, or sick to flee will be left to die. “We are tired of running from one place to another,” said Abeer (name changed), a humanitarian worker.

At the same time, Israel is deliberately obstructing humanitarian operations. Aid trucks continue to be denied, and international NGOs are left in limbo by an opaque registration regime, even as famine deepens.

The International Court of Justice has recognized that Palestinians in Gaza have a right to be protected from genocide. Each act of forced displacement and each surge of hunger makes that danger more certain, and the world cannot claim it did not see this coming.

Let our goods enter. Let us work. Stop this assault.