Famine Looms in Gaza as Food Aid Distribution Sparks Ceasefire Deadlock July 22, 2025 Gaza Strip The Wall

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📰 Famine Looms in Gaza as Food Aid Distribution Sparks Ceasefire Deadlock
🗓️ July 22, 2025
📍 Gaza Strip

📄The Wall Street Journal has reported that food aid distribution has become the central point of contention in ongoing ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas, as the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip deteriorates further.

According to Arab mediators, talks have stalled over who will control aid distribution once a ceasefire takes effect. Hamas insists that the United Nations and the Palestinian Red Crescent should oversee all incoming humanitarian aid. While the U.S. has expressed openness to their involvement, it has not supported granting them full control.

Hamas has also demanded the exclusion of the U.S.- and Israeli-backed Gajah Humanitarian Foundation from all aid logistics, citing mistrust and alleged bias. Conversely, Israel has rejected full UN control, citing concerns that the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) has links to Hamas operatives involved in the surprise October 2023 attacks.

Israel claims Hamas has misused aid deliveries to support its military campaign. International humanitarian organizations, while acknowledging incidents of hoarding and theft by Hamas, argue that civilian needs remain urgent and unaddressed.

Despite criticism, Israel continues to support Gajah Foundation’s operations. However, the foundation itself has come under fire after Israeli forces were accused of killing civilians at its aid centers.

Hamas views UN-led aid distribution as essential for post-war recovery and calming public outrage. A Hamas official emphasized that “the greatest pressure on Hamas comes from the people,” referring to widespread hunger and civilian deaths.

Experts suggest that Israel’s renewed military incursion into Deir al-Balah, central Gaza—believed to be a hostage holding site—is being used to strengthen its position at the negotiation table. This marks the first Israeli ground maneuver in the area since the war’s early days. UN medical warehouses have also reportedly come under attack.

Jonathan Conricus, a researcher at the U.S.-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies, stated that Israeli troop deployments are intended to demonstrate the seriousness of its demands to Hamas.

The two sides are currently negotiating a proposed 60-day ceasefire in Doha, Qatar, under Egyptian, Qatari, and American mediation. While some disputes have reportedly been resolved in recent weeks, key issues remain—most notably, the size of a buffer zone Israel seeks to maintain along the Gaza–Egypt border, known as the Philadelphia Route.

Meanwhile, the humanitarian situation in Gaza has sharply worsened. According to Reuters, at least 101 people, including 80 children, have died of starvation since the war began. Many of the deaths have occurred in recent weeks.

In the past 24 hours alone, 15 people reportedly died of hunger—including 6-week-old Yusuf and three other children. Yusuf’s uncle told Reuters that he could not find even a single drop of baby formula and that a single can cost as much as $100 on the black market.

Observers warn that without an urgent and coordinated solution to food aid distribution, the crisis could escalate into a full-scale famine. Mediators are expected to increase pressure on all parties in the coming days to finalize a mechanism that ensures safe, impartial, and sustained humanitarian delivery.

As political and military maneuvering continues, civilians in Gaza face growing desperation. The inability to agree on basic aid logistics threatens to derail broader ceasefire efforts and deepen the tragedy already unfolding.

🔗 Reported from Gaza City, Palestinian Territories – World News Conflict Desk

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