Action Against Hunger calls for a sustained ceasefire

Action Against Hunger welcomes the progress being made to secure the release of Israeli and foreign hostages held in Gaza, and the release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.

Our organisation, present in the area since 2005, knows the most urgent and necessary
humanitarian needs in Gaza and maintains that a four-day humanitarian pause is wholly
insufficient to launch a meaningful humanitarian response on the scale required to meet the needs of the population.

Our teams continue to work tirelessly to deliver humanitarian aid, despite insecurity, poor communications, fuel shortages and dwindling stocks in the local market. We have been working with local suppliers inside Gaza to distribute aid such as water, food, hygiene products, nappies, blankets, and mattresses as efficiently and quickly as possible. And most importantly, making sure it reaches the people who really need it.

Our teams are prepared to scale up the response, as the needs are critical, but a sustained ceasefire is essential to achieve this as the only way to protect all civilians, to protect critical infrastructure, and to a safe, sustained and scaled-up humanitarian response commensurate with the needs.

In practice, the following conditions must be in place to enable a humanitarian response
commensurate with Gaza’s needs:

• A lasting and sustainable cessation of all violence, throughout the Gaza Strip, including in northern Gaza, the West Bank and Israel.
• The unimpeded and unobstructed movement of humanitarian supplies into Gaza,
  including all supplies critical to the rehabilitation, operations, and maintenance of
  infrastructure vital to the survival of the population, including water and sanitation.
• Safe, unimpeded, and assured movement of humanitarian personnel rotating in, out and within Gaza.
• Unhindered and safe movement and assembly of civilians for access to humanitarian aid and services.
• The evacuation of sick and wounded within or outside the territory, with guarantees of the right of return.
• Safe passage for civilians wishing to flee, within or outside the territory, with guarantees of the right of return.
• Continued progress to secure the release of the hostages in Gaza and their fair treatment while in captivity.
• Reopening of the Erez and Kerem Shalom border crossings for humanitarian supplies.
• Reopening of the third water pipeline supplied by Israel.
• Reconnection of Israeli electricity supply lines to Gaza.
• The entry of sufficient fuel supplies for the entire humanitarian response.
• Agreement by the parties to the conflict on a monitoring and verification mechanism to monitor and report publicly to the Security Council on the implementation of the sustained pauses