Obama Condemns Gaza Starvation Crisis, Calls for Immediate Humanitarian Access

By Amit Kumar

Former U.S. President Barack Obama has spoken out against the growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza,
urging swift action to prevent widespread starvation. Taking to social media platform X, Obama
emphasized the urgent need for humanitarian intervention amid Israel’s ongoing military campaign.

In a post on X, he said that a “lasting resolution to the crisis in Gaza must involve a return of all
hostages and a cessation of Israel’s military operations”. But recent reports of the hunger crisis in the
Palestinian enclave “underscore the immediate need for action to… prevent the travesty of innocent
people dying of preventable starvation”, he said.

“Aid must be permitted to reach people in Gaza. There is no justification for keeping food and water
away from civilian families,” he wrote.

Meanwhile, the United Nations’ humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher confirmed that Israel had relaxed
some of its restrictions, allowing aid efforts to ramp up, albeit not nearly enough to match the scale
of the crisis. According to Fletcher, over 100 aid trucks were able to move in, but the region still faces
a dire shortage of supplies.

“As the world is witnessing, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is devastating. One in three people in
Gaza hasn’t eaten for days. People are being shot just trying to get food to feed their families.
Children are wasting away. This is what we face on the ground right now,” said Fletcher.

He also welcomed the limited progress on aid access: “We welcome Israel’s decision to support a
one-week scale-up of aid, including lifting customs barriers on food, medicine and fuel from Egypt
and the reported designation of secure routes for UN humanitarian convoys. Some movement
restrictions appear to have been eased today, with initial reports indicating that over 100 truckloads
were collected. This is progress, but vast amounts of aid are needed to stave off famine and a
catastrophic health crisis.”