With over 2 million Palestinians trapped in Gaza and facing famine conditions under an Israeli aid blockade, an urgent new initiative has emerged from the international community. More than 750 civil society organizations—including Human Rights Watch, UNRWA, and other humanitarian bodies—have signed a unified call demanding immediate international intervention to deliver food, water, and medical aid into the besieged enclave.
The “Unified Call to Confront Famine” urges states to form a Diplomatic Humanitarian Convoy—a coalition of official diplomatic missions and aid organizations that would enter Gaza via Egypt’s Rafah Crossing, escorting thousands of blocked aid trucks currently stalled at the border. The proposal comes as global agencies and health officials warn that time is running out to prevent mass starvation.
“We are witnessing, in real time, the deliberate starvation of a civilian population as a method of warfare,” said Human Rights Watch (HRW), one of the signatories of the call. “Over 2 million Palestinians in Gaza are living in famine.”
According to the World Food Program and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), all aid reserves have now been exhausted. More than 3,000 food trucks and 116,000 metric tons of supplies remain unable to enter Gaza, blocked by Israel since March 2 following the collapse of a temporary ceasefire.
“The risk of famine in Gaza is increasing with the deliberate withholding of humanitarian aid,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), in an address to the World Health Assembly in Geneva. “The WHO has said around a quarter of the 2.1 million population in Gaza are facing ‘a catastrophic situation of hunger, acute malnutrition, starvation, illness, and death’ due to the Israeli blockade.”
The UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) system now categorizes the entire Gaza Strip at Phase 4—emergency food insecurity—with 244,000 Palestinians already facing Phase 5 conditions, the highest level of hunger defined by the IPC as “extreme deprivation of food.” According to the IPC, “Starvation, death, destitution, and extremely critical levels of acute malnutrition are or will likely be evident.”
The call for a diplomatic convoy proposes that states, diplomats, and international observers accompany the aid mission alongside UN and Egyptian authorities to force open the Rafah crossing and allow life-saving aid to flow. “This is a human imperative,” HRW stated. “A Diplomatic Humanitarian Convoy would mark a historic step to break the siege, end the starvation, and affirm the world’s rejection of hunger as a weapon of war.”
The plan calls on diplomats and lawmakers from countries “complicit in the ongoing atrocities”—including the United States, Israel’s top funder—to join the convoy in their personal capacities. It also invites international media organizations to accompany the convoy “to bear witness, to document the famine, and to expose the blockade starving Gaza.”
Health workers in Gaza report an increasingly dire situation for children and mothers. “We currently are lacking nutrition rehabilitation supplies and equipment, including pharmaceuticals,” said Richard Peeperkorn, WHO representative in the occupied Palestinian territories. “Because of the blockades, supplies are dwindling rapidly.”
Rana Soboh, a Gaza-based nutritionist, described to the Associated Press the condition of a mother who fainted while breastfeeding her newborn after going days without food. She later met a mother with a 1-year-old son who weighed only 11 pounds. “He hadn’t grown any teeth,” the report said. “He was too weak to cry. The mother was also malnourished, ‘a skeleton, covered in skin.’ When the mother asked for food, Soboh started crying uncontrollably.”
Despite these warnings, Israeli authorities have permitted only a minimal amount of aid to enter the territory. On May 19, five UN aid trucks were allowed through—a fraction of the 500 to 600 daily trucks needed to meet basic food and medical needs under normal conditions. Israel’s defense ministry claimed the trucks carried baby food and were approved “following the recommendation of professional [Israeli military] officials” and “the political echelon.”
Tom Fletcher, the UN’s top humanitarian official, stated that only nine UN trucks were cleared that day. “A drop in the ocean of what is urgently needed,” he said.
In a statement Monday, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) condemned the limited aid entry. “The Israeli government’s decision to let a trickle of aid into Gaza—reportedly only nine aid trucks in a day—will do nothing to relieve the threat of famine facing two million Palestinian men, women and children besieged in Gaza,” the group said. CAIR called the move “a PR stunt by Netanyahu’s genocidal government, which is determined to occupy and flatten Gaza, and then expel any Palestinians who survive.”
While Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the new aid policy as a “bridge” to a proposed system involving a private foundation and U.S. security contractors, the United Nations rejected the idea, stating it is “at odds with the DNA of any principled humanitarian organization.”
Even within Israel’s leadership, the internal debate over limited aid has exposed fissures. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir opposed allowing any food into Gaza, claiming it would “fuel Hamas and give it oxygen.” In contrast, Netanyahu acknowledged that “our greatest friends in the world” had warned his government they “cannot accept images of hunger, mass hunger.”
Meanwhile, Israel has escalated attacks across Gaza. On the same day the trucks were allowed through, Israeli forces killed at least 84 Palestinians and bombed two hospitals. According to WHO, the strike on Nasser Hospital destroyed roughly one-third of critical health care supplies in a nearby warehouse. A separate attack on the Indonesian Hospital destroyed power generators after Israeli forces besieged the facility, forcing it to shut down.
Human Rights Watch emphasized that the convoy call is grounded in international law, citing “the Genocide Convention, the International Court of Justice’s provisional measures, [and] the UN Charter.” The organization warned that “inaction will lead to mass death by starvation, enable further grave illegalities, and undermine the international legal system.”
The push for a diplomatic convoy follows increasing international pressure on Israel. On Monday, 23 countries issued a joint statement urging the Israeli government to allow a “full resumption of aid.” The United Kingdom, France, and Canada also released a joint declaration threatening sanctions if Israel continues its offensive in Gaza and settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank.
Despite the gravity of the situation, little has changed on the ground. Aid remains largely blocked, food and medicine supplies continue to dwindle, and international warnings multiply. As humanitarian groups prepare for what they call a historic diplomatic intervention, they warn the cost of further delay will be measured in lives.
“Inaction,” said Human Rights Watch, “will lead to mass death by starvation, enable further grave illegalities, and undermine the international legal system.”
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