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Airdrops 100 Times More Expensive Than Trucks – UNRWA

CrossFireArabia
August 4, 2025

Airdrops are at least 100 times more costly than trucks.

Trucks carry twice as much aid as planes.

If there is political will to allow airdrops – which are highly costly, insufficient and inefficient, there should be similar political will to open the road crossings.

As the people of Gaza are starving to death, the only way to respond to the famine is to flood Gaza with assistance.

UNRWA the largest UN agency on the ground, has 6,000 trucks loaded with aid stuck outside Gaza waiting for the green light to enter.

The UN including UNRWA and partners were able to bring in 500 to 600 trucks a day during the ceasefire earlier this year.

Aid reached the entire population of Gaza in safety and dignity. It succeeded to reverse the deepening starvation without any aid diversion.

No alternative to the UN coordinated response with UNRWA as the backbone had provided similar results.

Let’s go back to what works and let us do our job.

This is what people in Gaza need today more than ever together with a lasting ceasefire

Background Information:

UNRWA is the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. The United Nations General Assembly established UNRWA in 1949 with a mandate to provide humanitarian assistance and protection to registered Palestine refugees in the Agency’s area of operations pending a just and lasting solution to their plight.

UNRWA operates in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, The Gaza Strip, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.

Tens of thousands of Palestine refugees who lost their homes and livelihoods due to the 1948 conflict continue to be displaced and in need of support, nearly 75 years on.

UNRWA helps Palestine Refugees achieve their full potential in human development through quality services it provides in education, health care, relief and social services, protection, camp infrastructure and improvement, microfinance, and emergency assistance. UNRWA is funded almost entirely by voluntary contributions.

Reliefweb

News

Palestinian Youth Dies Under Israeli Torture

CrossFireArabia
August 4, 2025

20-year-old Palestinian administrative detainee Ahmad Tazaaz’a, from Jenin, died, Sunday, in the Israeli prison of Megiddo.

His family says he had no prior health issues prior to his detention nine months ago.

His death brings the death toll among detainees to 76 since the start of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, during which extreme violence, including torture and starvation, has been widely used against the detainees.

News

2400 Israeli Artists, Architects Protest Netanyahu’s Starvation

CrossFireArabia
August 4, 2025

Around 2,400 Israeli artists and architects have signed two separate petitions demanding an immediate end to Israel’s starvation policy, forced displacement of Palestinians and war crimes in Gaza, Israeli media reported Sunday.

The Walla news outlet said that approximately 1,000 Israeli cultural figures including prominent names in music, theater, literature and film signed a petition calling for “an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.”

“We, the artists of Israel, refuse to be complicit — against our will — in the atrocities committed in Gaza: the killing of children and civilians, starvation, displacement and the senseless destruction of Gaza’s cities,” the petition said according to Anadolu.

“We appeal to decision-makers: Stop! Do not issue unlawful orders. Do not commit war crimes. Do not abandon ethical and humanitarian principles or the values of Judaism,” it added.

The petition concluded with a clear demand: “Stop the war. Bring the hostages home.”

A second petition, also reported by Walla, was signed by nearly 1,400 visual artists, designers and architects. It described the situation in Gaza as “horror on a historic scale” and warned of a deepening humanitarian catastrophe.

“The Israeli public bears responsibility for what is happening just a few kilometers away,” it stated.

Earlier Sunday, the Gaza Health Ministry said the number of Palestinians who have died from starvation caused by the Israeli blockade has reached 175, including 93 children, since Israel’s genocide began in October 2023.

The Israeli army, rejecting international calls for a ceasefire, has pursued a brutal offensive on Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, killing more than 60,800 Palestinians, most of them women and children.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.

News

Video of ‘Skin & Bones’ Israeli Soldier Goes Viral

CrossFireArabia
August 2, 2025

The military wing of Hamas, Al-Qassam Brigades, has released a new video showing an emaciated Israeli soldier prisoner, highlighting the devastating Israeli-made famine in Gaza. The video directly states that the Israeli government is imposing starvation on both Israeli prisoners and Palestinians, especially children.

https://t.me/TTT_TTn/5617?embed=1

The footage, titled “The Israeli Government Decided to Starve Them”, was published in Arabic, Hebrew, and English by Al-Qassam’s military media unit. It features a visibly frail Israeli soldier prisoner. His bones are prominent, and his body shows severe signs of malnutrition. The brigades said the prisoner was scheduled for release in a swap deal that Israel continues to delay.

In the same clip, heartbreaking scenes of starved Palestinian infants appear. Their bodies have withered into skeletal frames due to months of Israeli-enforced hunger. The video also includes statements by Israeli officials, including National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who is heard saying, “What Gaza needs now is bombs.” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is also quoted: “We will allow only the bare minimum of aid.”

Al-Qassam states in the video: “They eat what we eat. They drink what we drink,” referring to the Israeli soldier prisoners held in Gaza.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, recently confirmed that “the famine in Gaza is entirely man-made.” The agency stressed the urgent need to let humanitarian workers operate freely. Over one million children now face hunger in Gaza.

Human Rights Watch also slammed Israel’s blockade. It described the Israeli aid distribution mechanism as a flawed military structure that has turned humanitarian aid into “a bloodbath and a death trap.”

The Al-Qassam video includes multiple angles of the Israeli prisoner, showing his extreme weight loss. Parallel shots of malnourished Palestinian children drive home the message that starvation in Gaza is widespread and deliberate.

The video also reminds viewers that the prisoner could have been released in a deal. But Israel continues to block progress, leaving both its soldiers and Palestinians to suffer under a policy of starvation.

Gaza today faces its worst humanitarian crisis in modern history. Famine is spreading fast. The population is trapped under relentless Israeli attacks, backed by the United States since October 7, 2023.

According to the Health Ministry, nearly 208,000 Palestinians have been killed or injured since the start of the genocide. At least 159 people, mostly children, have died from starvation and malnutrition alone. More than 2 million have been displaced. Around 90% of Gaza’s buildings lie in ruins according to the Quds News Network.

News

Israeli Military Chief Threatens to Resign on Gaza

CrossFireArabia
August 2, 2025

Israel’s military Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir is considering resigning if stalled negotiations with the Palestinian resistance group, Hamas, fail to resume, media reports said Friday.

The Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported that Zamir reached a critical crossroads in his relationship with political leaders and resignation may be his only option if the deadlock continues.

The dispute has gone beyond routine institutional friction, it said, with some Cabinet ministers allegedly making derogatory remarks about the army during Cabinet meetings.

Channel 12 television said Zamir is “fed up” with the political–military rift and has asked the government to take clear decisions on the continuation of the Gaza war.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has avoided committing to firm policies, said the report, placing the entire burden of the situation in Gaza on the military.

The rift centers on the fate of Israeli captives in Gaza and the continuation of military operations without a clear political roadmap.

Rejecting international calls for a ceasefire, Israel has pursued a brutal offensive on Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, killing more than 60,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children. The relentless bombardment has destroyed the enclave and led to food shortages.