International aid group warns of famine, disease spreading among Palestinians in Gaza

The international aid group Mercy Corps warns about famine and disease affecting Palestinians in Gaza as the war between Israel and Hamas continues.

Kate Phillips-Barrasso, vice president of Mercy Corps, says that relentless fighting and insufficient humanitarian aid were compounding the humanitarian crisis.

She says the amount of lifesaving goods being allowed inside Gaza is a drop in the ocean and has not yet increased to the level necessary to meet Gazans’ basic and critical needs, even after Israel opened its Kerem Shalom border crossing.

Half a million people face “catastrophic hunger and starvation,” she says, adding that the aid delivery is further complicated by the security risks involved.

Israel has previously said that the UN is failing to process aid fast enough, stressing that it has inspected three times the amount of aid than has been entering Gaza.

Hamas has also been accused of stealing and stockpiling aid, keeping it from increasingly desperate civilians.

The IDF believes the humanitarian situation in Gaza is reasonable given the circumstances, and wishes to avoid a major crisis that would harm Israel’s legitimacy to continue its operations in the Strip.