New York, NY, July 28, 2025 — David Miliband, President and CEO for the International Rescue Committee (IRC), says,
“The images, testimonies, and statistics from Gaza leave no room for doubt. Instead, they paint a clear picture of a humanitarian hellscape. Far from a natural disaster, what we are witnessing is a man-made catastrophe unfolding in real time. We have repeatedly warned that the blockade on supplies would cause a life-threatening disaster on a huge scale, on top of the ongoing death and destruction from the war. That has now happened. There is no justification for this.
"Children in Gaza are not just hungry; they are starving to death. IRC staff and our Palestinian partners are exhausted, delivering nutrition, health, and water and sanitation — all while facing the same hunger and relentless threats to their lives and that of their families. They are not just witnesses to this crisis; they are living it.
"The IRC has several tons of life-saving supplies ready to enter Gaza — enough to treat thousands of people and support a health system that is collapsing. They sit idle while hospitals across Gaza fall into ruin and children die of starvation.
"Formal famine declarations always lag reality. By the time that famine was declared in Somalia in 2011, 250,000 people - half of them children under 5 - had already died of hunger. By the time famine is declared, it will already be too late. For too many, it already is.
"The solution is tragically simple. We need the opening of land crossings and unfettered humanitarian access to reach people in need as a matter of the highest urgency. Gaza must be flooded with aid, not sprinkled with symbolism. Air drops are expensive, inefficient and can be dangerous - and when there are clear alternatives, this is simply not the answer.
"It is never wrong to feed and treat people in need. The humanitarian crisis in Gaza is not the only emergency in the world, but its resolution is straightforward, so there are no excuses. Feeding people does not promote terrorism; it keeps people alive. Failing to feed them is the real danger.
"In the coming days, thousands of Gaza’s children will either be rescued — or allowed to die. That is the choice before us. The fact that it is even being debated shows how far the international system has fallen. There are no two sides to this argument.”