John,

I'm writing to you with a heart-wrenching update on the crisis in Gaza. As you may have seen on the news, no humanitarian aid has entered Gaza since March 2.

That means no food. No clean water. No medicine. For 75 days. Nearly all 1.1 million children are facing critical food insecurity across Gaza.

This is not a crisis of supply- it's a crisis of access. Children in Gaza are starving- not due to lack of food, but because aid is being blocked. The imposition of a total blockade on Gaza has quickly undone the small gains made during the pause in hostilities. Children and families have been plunged back into hunger. Without urgent action to end the blockade and allow food and medicine into the Gaza Strip, the more than one million children in Gaza are at critical risk of starvation, disease and ultimately, death.

This is a man-made humanitarian catastrophe.

Children have already died because of malnutrition and disease. These deaths are entirely preventable, but the violence and restrictions on delivering aid are challenging survival at every turn. And for those struggling to survive, time is quickly running out to prevent long-lasting impacts.

Children have had to bear the brunt of this conflict for nearly 20 months. Mothers have had to watch their children suffer from the agony of hunger and malnutrition. Fathers have had to bury their babies. Children have had to live in a constant state of hypervigilance, anxiety and fear.
 

"We know what hunger feels like, we've tasted death. Our children are just waiting their turn to die." - Mother of 4, northern Gaza

“I don’t know how to feed my family. There’s no food. I have no choice but to eat things you would never imagine. It’s unfair. " - Father of one child and one on the way, northern Gaza
 

The world must act. Gaza is at critical risk of famine. Without urgent action, the consequences will be catastrophic. We need a definitive ceasefire. We need the release of all remaining hostages. We need unimpeded aid flow and full humanitarian access.

Save the Children continues to deliver humanitarian services to children and families in these overwhelming conditions. We have aid waiting at the border and our teams in Gaza are ready to deliver these life-saving supplies. We continue to ask for support as this crisis is unprecedented and the humanitarian need is far greater than we could ever imagine.

Please, help us in telling the world and its leaders to let aid in and let us do our jobs. Humanity cannot bear to let this crisis for children continue for one more day.

To learn more about what Save the Children is doing to help children in Gaza and how you can help, visit: https://www.savethechildren.org/us/where-we-work/west-bank-gaza 

With hope for the children of the world,

Janti Soeripto
President & CEO
Save the Children