What we can all do to help ease the humanitarian crisis in Gaza

Photo via the International Rescue Committee.

I rarely write about the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza because I would be speaking mainly out of ignorance. Other than following news coverage, I have no more insight than anyone else. As with everyone, though, recent reports of mass starvation have left me horrified and appalled. The fighting between Israel and Hamas has to end. Israel must uphold international law by allowing aid to get through. Hamas must release the remaining hostages.

What moves me to write this morning is that I learned over the weekend that the International Rescue Committee continues to prove assistance to people on the ground. Mohammed Mansour writes in The New York Times (gift link):

I am a senior nutrition manager with the International Rescue Committee, one of the few organizations that is still able to deliver aid in Gaza. On a typical day, my colleagues and I screen hundreds of children for malnutrition at mobile clinics across the territory. We provide therapeutic food for kids who are at risk of starvation and counsel parents who are doing their best to care for their daughters and sons under unimaginable conditions.

More than 100 organizations have warned that “mass starvation” is spreading in Gaza. Not that journalists have any special claim to be exempt from that suffering, but it’s notable that hunger among reporters in Gaza has become so widespread that the Committee to Protect Journalists has issued an alert.

But this is about what we can do to help. To donate to the International Rescue Committee, just click here. I’m going to do it as soon as I publish this item.

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5 thoughts on “What we can all do to help ease the humanitarian crisis in Gaza”

  1. Really? You think Gazans are starving because of the level of philanthropic contributions and not because of the Israeli blockade?

    1. If you’re going to comment, you can at least do me the favor of reading my very first paragraph.

      1. Of course I read your first paragraph. Asking people to make a donation instead of addressing our country’s support for the blockade is the definition of performative.

  2. Thou shalt not criticize the State of Israel. The ADL might blacklist you as anti-semitic and destroy your career.

    Ease the crisis? This is not a hurricane or earthquake. This is intentional genocide at the hands of Israel. Why donate food assistance when IDF shoots and kills starving people waiting in line for the food?

    “A newspaper report published in Hebrew and English quoting Israeli soldiers saying commanders have ordered them to shoot at unarmed hungry crowds of people in Gaza trying to reach food distribution sites prompted a scathing response by Israel’s prime minister on Friday.” https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2025-06-27/ty-article-magazine/.premium/idf-soldiers-ordered-to-shoot-deliberately-at-unarmed-gazans-waiting-for-humanitarian-aid/00000197-ad8e-de01-a39f-ffbe33780000

    An area the size of 5 Manhattans has been completely leveled by Israel and US made bombs. 70% of homes destroyed, 80% of roads, 85% of health care facilities, and 95% of school buildings. There are no water or sewer systems left.

    Of course there is misery and starvation now. This is not the first time. We knew this would happen and did nothing to stop it.

    We comfort our children when they are frightened by thunderstorms. Imagine what the children of Gaza experienced with heavy bombs falling every hour for months on end; watching their homes and neighborhoods be destroyed by an invisible enemy; seeing their families and friends killed and maimed. Now they have to suffer the humiliation of begging for food and being shot at. If these children live, they will be justified in devoting themselves to the destruction of the people, countries, and governments that made this happen.

    Our humanitarian aid won’t balance out the misery caused by our munitions. Israel is the largest recipient of US military and financial aid in the world.

    Biden, Harris, and now Trump refused to stop the evil Netanyahu, despite the objections by the ICC, UN, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Doctors Without Borders, and the majority of the world’s population. Members of Knesset called all Palestinians terrorists and said they should be exterminated.

    Lastly, stop calling this a war between Israel and Hamas. Of the 60,000 dead, how many were members of Hamas? This is a war on the refugees of Palestine.

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