With help from donations from Peace SOS, the family in Gaza has distributed water to a group of about 500 people in Gaza five times since the beginning of May, as well as food to a group of about 500 people on four occasions. Generally, the distribution process as organised by the family in Gaza and the team of volunteers has gone well. Special care has been taken to protect the children from being harmed in the chaos.

Yesterday, Thursday 29 May, the fifth food distribution took place in an internally displaced (IDP) camp in collaboration with local staff. The team for arranging the food distribution consisted of about 25 people. There were about 140 families in the camp, amounting in total to 1,000 people. Because of the hunger, people from outside the camp also flocked to the distribution. Many people had not eaten for two or three days. There was chaos, scrambling and some food was spilled. Thank God there were no injuries. I thanked the team in Gaza, the angels of mercy, for their efforts, they did their utmost. The husband of the family informed me, ‘There is a security vacuum and no one can control the hungry.’

Last night I thought about the people who had also come for food, but whom we unfortunately could not feed. There were children among them…What a tragic situation to go through: you are hungry, you assume you will finally get something to eat, only to find it has already gone.

I find it so heartbreaking that people in Gaza are starving to death when, according to the UN, there are about 9,000 trucks with food and other humanitarian aid ready to cross the borders with Gaza, but Israel is blocking them. ‘Gaza is the hungriest place on earth,’ the UN said on the NIS website today. It need not be, if Prime Minister Netanyahu makes the right decision and opens the borders to aid now.

Today in the early evening, the husband of the family sent me an audio clip with the sound of a bomb exploding. He wrote underneath: ‘Unfortunately, the sounds of bombing have not stopped since morning….every minute there is a raid.’

Therefore, I once again call on our politicians to urge Israel to open its borders for humanitarian aid. And I also plead for a permanent ceasefire and the release of all hostages and Palestinian prisoners held without charge. Stop supplying arms to all warring parties. Also, Israel’s allies in particular should urge Israel to protect journalists and aid workers. Or rather, to protect everyone.

Additionally, as Amnesty recently pointed out, people in Gaza should be allowed to protest peacefully, if they still have the energy to do so. Hamas security forces should also allow all journalists in Gaza the freedom to carry out their work. Let peaceful people be free. And let there be peace and security. Let the voices of Israelis and Palestinians who support peace be heard loud and clear. Organisations like Standing Together, and the Parents Circle-Families Forum.

Let us care for each other and nature.

For: A World In Which All Children Can Play.

Author: May-May Meijer, chair Peace SOS

Photo: The crowd during the food distribution in Gaza on May 29th, 2025. Thanks to our local team in Gaza.

Note: This article was published in Dutch under the title ‘De familie in Gaza over chaos bij de voedseldistributie door honger’ on the Joop BNNVARA website on May 30th, 2025.