Oxfam partners are trying to get food, clean water, and medicine to desperate families. Here’s the latest, and what you can do to help.
Getting humanitarian aid into Gaza is a complicated mess—but it shouldn’t be.
With a new fragile ceasefire in place, Oxfam and other aid groups are ready to scale up to deliver more food, clean water, and medicine to millions of Palestinians in need. Despite overwhelming needs, the Israeli government is still allowing just a small fraction of the humanitarian aid needed into Gaza.
“The ceasefire must immediately unlock full and unrestricted humanitarian access to Gaza, supported by the international community ensuring that a sustainable ceasefire is upheld,” said Abby Maxman, President and CEO of Oxfam America. “The international community must also ensure that Israel opens all crossings and allows aid and commercial goods to flow freely and safely at scale into every corner of the Strip.”
Oxfam is calling for unhindered access to vital aid in Gaza. We stand ready to scale up the delivery of humanitarian aid once access is granted.
Gaza’s urgent need for increased aid delivery
Palestinians in Gaza are in desperate need of humanitarian aid The most pressing needs include food, clean water, medicine, as well as sanitation and hygiene services (WASH) such as menstrual products and waste management services.
- Famine is now confirmed inside Gaza City and is believed to have expanded into other areas.
- About 90 percent of water and sanitation infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, and 92 percent of housing units are damaged or destroyed.
- Twenty-one of the 50 nutrition centers in Gaza City have recently closed, cutting off care for around 4,000 children.
Children are particularly at risk. Nearly 71,000 cases of acute malnutrition among those aged 6 to 59 months are estimated as likely to occur through March 2026, including 14,100 severe cases.
Other UN agencies also report that many women are struggling to produce milk and find food to feed their families while suffering from depression, anxiety, and nightmares.
What is the current situation on aid entering Gaza?
Aid is entering Gaza, but the volume is far below what is needed to meet urgent humanitarian needs. Through coordination with the United Nations, only a small number of humanitarian organizations are authorized by Israeli authorities to bring aid trucks into Gaza. These pipelines themselves remain heavily delayed and constrained.
As of October 14th, the UN reported that it had 190,000 metric tons of aid in the delivery pipeline that had been approved by Israeli authorities but not yet allowed to enter Gaza. These supplies are positioned across the region, including Jordan, Egypt, and the West Bank. Some shipments are on their way to Gaza, as daily deliveries continue.
The current ceasefire came into effect at noon on October 10th. That has allowed some humanitarian organizations to partially resume operations in previously inaccessible parts of the Gaza Strip and begin scaling up the delivery of aid and services—but still at levels far short for capacity and need.
- At least nine are providing mental health and psycho-social support for children and distributing assistive devices to people with disabilities in Gaza city and other parts of North Gaza.
- As of October 13th, 949,000 meals were prepared and delivered by UN partners through 176 kitchens; these include 59,000 meals by 12 kitchens in northern Gaza and 890,000 meals by 164 kitchens in central and southern Gaza.
- Child-friendly spaces and women and girls’ safe spaces are reopening, bringing the total number of these spaces across the Strip to 61 child-friendly spaces and 32 women and girl’s safe spaces.
What is Oxfam doing to help aid get into Gaza?
We are doing everything we can, through partners, to deliver life-saving aid. Prior to the ceasefire, Oxfam worked closely with our partners in Gaza to reach more than 1.15 million people with humanitarian assistance. Since the war began, our water, sanitation, and hygiene programs have reached over 800,000 people.
Immediately following the ceasefire, Oxfam is scaling up its work in Gaza to assist partner organizations, people displaced by the conflict, and those on the move and choosing to return to their homes.
With your support, Oxfam plans to reach 800,000 people as soon as we’re able. Over the next three months, we will focus on a range of emergency interventions including:
- Food
- Clean water
- Access to hygiene items, including menstrual products
- Rehabilitation of water and sanitation systems and wells
- Solid waste management
- Training and supplies for home gardens to help people grow vegetables
- Support for survivors of gender-based violence
The announcement of an agreed first-stage ceasefire in Gaza is welcome news after two years of fighting—as is news of the release of Israeli hostages and unlawfully detained Palestinian prisoners.
The ceasefire agreement promised unimpeded humanitarian assistance, and we urgently need full access for all qualified humanitarian organizations.
"Nothing other than complete access to Gaza to deliver aid at scale can alleviate the conditions that people have been forced to live in," said Bushra Khalidi, Oxfam in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel policy lead.
