Military Pauses Will Not Address Gaza’s Worsening Humanitarian Catastrophe

Planned “pauses” of military operations in northern Gaza will not address the calamitous humanitarian crisis in the territory or allow aid organizations to sufficiently respond to urgent needs, Mercy Corps warns. 

Mercy Corps Chief Executive Officer, Tjada D’Oyen McKenna, says: 

“Military pauses will not provide a sufficient respite from the bombardments, ease the impacts of the imposed siege, or deliver the safety guarantees that both civilians and humanitarian organizations need.  

“Only a sustained ceasefire, agreed to by all parties, will meaningfully mitigate the tragic humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and allow organizations like Mercy Corps to deliver lifesaving assistance desperately needed by 2.3 million people who continue to be trapped under heavy bombardment, cut off from food, water and medicine. 

“Most international aid organizations in Gaza continue to be unable to safely operate, with our own staff displaced and trying to survive. One of our team members in Gaza this week shared: ‘I don’t know what I fear more – losing a family member or suffocating under the rubble. Which is worse – to be alive and suffer or to die suffering.’ We need a ceasefire now.”