In a petition, signed by 111 organizations, immediate negotiations on a ceasefire and the opening of border crossings to Gaza for humanitarian aid are demanded.
"The Palestinians are trapped in a cycle of hope and despair, waiting for emergency aid and a ceasefire, only to wake up to even worse conditions," the organizations write in a joint statement.
According to the organizations, tons of supplies are located just outside Gaza's border, and even within the territory, but Israel is preventing the goods from being delivered.
"Human action"
The World Health Organization's (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also warns of mass starvation in Gaza. According to him, the food deliveries entering the Palestinian areas are "far below what is needed for the population's survival".
A large part of Gaza's population is starving. I do not know what to call it if not mass starvation – and it is due to human action, he says to reporters according to AFP.
The UN said on Tuesday that more than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed in connection with the food distribution managed by the Israeli-American organization Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). The heavily criticized organization took over the responsibility for the distribution of emergency aid in Gaza on May 26, after a more than two-month-long Israeli total blockade.
France's Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot is one of the many critics who blame Israel's total blockade for being behind the malnutrition and the risk of starvation in the Palestinian areas.
Israel accuses Hamas
Israel, on the other hand, says that humanitarian aid is being let into Gaza and accuses Hamas of exploiting civilian suffering, among other things by stealing food distributions to sell them at inflated prices or shooting at those waiting for help.
In Gaza today, there is no starvation caused by Israel, says the government's spokesperson David Mencer to reporters according to AFP.
Even Israel's President Isaac Herzog denies that Israel is behind the starvation, during a visit to Gaza on Wednesday.
"We provide humanitarian aid in accordance with international law," he says in a statement and accuses Hamas of "trying to sabotage this aid".
