Red Cross warns Gaza humanitarian work on ‘verge of total collapse’

The Red Cross warns that the humanitarian response in Gaza is on the “verge of total collapse” after two months of Israel blocking aid to the Strip in a bid to pressure the Hamas terror group to release the 59 hostages it is still holding.

“Without an immediate resumption of aid deliveries, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) will not have access to the food, medicines and life-saving supplies needed to sustain many of its programs in Gaza,” it says in a statement.

“Civilians in Gaza are facing an overwhelming daily struggle to survive the dangers of hostilities, cope with relentless displacement, and endure the consequences of being deprived of urgent humanitarian assistance,” Pascal Hundt, ICRC Deputy Director of Operations, says in the statement.

“This situation must not — and cannot — be allowed to escalate further.”

ICRC stresses that under international humanitarian law, “Israel has an obligation to use all means available to ensure that the basic needs of the civilian population under its control are met.”

“If the blockage continues, programs such as the ICRC common kitchens, which often provide the only meal people receive each day, will only be able to operate for a few more weeks,” it warns.

Israel is planning to allow assistance into the enclave to resume in the current weeks, according to officials. It is planning to radically alter the way humanitarian aid is distributed when this happens, an Israeli and Arab official familiar with the matter have told The Times of Israel this week.

The plan is to transition away from wholesale distribution and warehousing of aid and to instead have international organizations and private security contractors hand out boxes of food to individual Gazan families, according to the officials.