Note: trigger warning related to violence in Gaza
Today I read on the Dutch national news broadcaster NOS website that peace negotiations for a cease-fire in Gaza are in danger of failing. Which very sad, because a cease-fire and humanitarian aid for the people of Gaza are more crucial than ever. Also, the hostages in Gaza and the Palestinian prisoners held without charge are yearning for freedom. The reports I am receiving from Peace SOS Gaza are becoming increasingly distressing. In recent days, Salama of Peace SOS Gaza has experienced several bombings. His cousin was killed in an attack on a water treatment plant. Then he attended a funeral where there was also a bombing. Then the neighbours’ house was bombed. There they found a baby whose head had been separated from its body. The stories are so gruesome that they regularly become too much for me.
Many people come to Salama’s house to ask for food for their children. “Since morning, people have been contacting me, telling me that their children are crying from hunger. I heard their children crying over the phone. The humanitarian situation is very, very, very difficult.” So the message from Doctors Without Borders on the Dutch national NOS news website this morning about the sharp increase in malnourished patients matches the cries of distress we are hearing from Gaza. I also saw a picture from a Gaza doctor on LinkedIn of an incubator with premature babies in danger of dying because fuel can barely get into Gaza.
One of the points of contention in Gaza peace negotiations, according to the Dutch national news broadcaster NOS, is Hamas’ insistence that humanitarian aid in Gaza must enter Gaza through UN agencies and international aid organizations, whereas Israel wants aid to be distributed through the U.S.-Israel-backed organization Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). According to the BBC, critics of the GHF see it as a way for the Israeli government to force Palestinians to move into southern Gaza. In any case, it is clear that very many people are dying at GHF distribution points. Hundreds have been killed in recent weeks after Israeli soldiers opened fire. And now it also appears that malnutrition among people in Gaza is rising sharply. This while, according to the United Nations, there are about 9,000 trucks with humanitarian aid waiting at the border. Therefore, I call again for a cease-fire and for the borders to be opened for large-scale humanitarian aid.
Israel mentions food theft as one of the reasons they want to distribute food themselves. The BBC article maintains that food theft does indeed happen, while citing Joe Biden administration as claiming that it was not on such a large scale that it justified blocking aid. It was also brought to our attention by someone from Gaza that food theft is happening. This presents Peace SOS with a moral dilemma. Through our help we are saving people from hunger, but at the same time are we not collaborating in perpetuating food theft? I confronted Salama about this. He wrote to me this morning, “If we boycott stolen goods, we will die of hunger.” I did not sleep well, in the knowledge that we may be perpetuating (violent?) theft. I assumed that the food was purchased by the chef from local farmers, as we had been told earlier. On the other hand, there are those at Peace SOS who say, “food first, time for ethics later.” I understand that too, given the dire situation in Gaza. And the fact that the Peace SOS Gaza team is doing what they can to help their fellow human beings in Gaza. Peace SOS Gaza gives the help with love, and that is what is necessary. We intend to discuss this within Peace SOS soon.
I received a report and direct messages from someone in Gaza about food theft. Criminal armed gangs, among whom individual members of Hamas and a gang affiliated with a man named Yasser Abu Shabab which is supported by Israel, are stealing aid. In the past, security forces guarded the transport of food, but they have been eliminated by Israel. Warehouses are also being bombed. The report cites the collapse of local authority in Gaza as one reason that food theft is occurring. The report makes a number of recommendations, including one for independent and direct international monitoring of the aid effort.
Let’s hope that together we can come up with solutions and implement them. That the violence stops soon. That we put the interests of the most vulnerable first. That the innocent premature babies will be rescued, and the hostages freed. That the hungry will soon be fed. That clean drinking water and medical care for all in Gaza becomes available soon.
May there soon be: A World Where All Children Can Play.
May-May Meijer
Chairperson, Peace SOS
Photo: A child during the distribution of drinking water by the team of Peace SOS Gaza 25th July 2025.
Note: This article was published in Dutch under the title: Zet de baby’s en gijzelaars in Gaza op de eerste plaats on the Joop BNNVARA website on 12th July, 2025. Minor changes have been made.