Health Workers, Humanitarian Agencies Demand Israel Let Them Enter Gaza Amid Ceasefire

In addition to immediate aid, other advocates say, "If we want peace, we also need to demand justice."

By Kylie Cheung  |  January 16, 2025 | 3:57pm
In Depth
Health Workers, Humanitarian Agencies Demand Israel Let Them Enter Gaza Amid Ceasefire
Young Arabs celebrate the announcement of the Gaza ceasefire on January 15, 2025, in Berlin, Germany. Photo: Getty Images

On Wednesday, Israeli and Hamas officials announced they’ve reached a ceasefire deal to stop the hostilities in Gaza and facilitate the release of hostages from both sides over the coming weeks. The announcement comes after 15 months of genocide perpetrated by Israeli forces, and seemingly endless carnage and destruction that the U.S. aided and abetted every step of the way. Now, as Palestinians in Gaza cautiously celebrate some respite from over a year of terror, humanitarian agencies and health care workers are pleading with Israel to allow aid to enter Gaza—and for the ceasefire to be permanent.

Since the deal was announced, the photos and videos of Palestinians, including small children, crying and celebrating in the streets of Gaza, are both beautiful and devastating. Some videos show toddlers dancing and in tears from relief, recorded in the tents and refugee camps in which they live after losing everything. Other videos show journalists—who were widely targeted by Israeli forces—removing their helmets at the news, to loud cheers from those around them. One journalist shared a video he pre-recorded in the event of his death, which he expected after Israeli forces killed over 150 Palestinian journalists in Gaza over the last year.

Still, there’s reason to be cautious. The deal, which will unfold in three phases, is set to begin on January 19. But on Thursday, an Israeli cabinet meeting in which the government was expected to approve the deal was delayed, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blaming Hamas. Early Thursday, the outlet reported that Israeli attacks killed 82 Palestinians in Gaza in the hours since a ceasefire was announced. Further, “Israel has a very prolonged history of violations regarding commitment to ceasefire agreements,” according to Abu Azzoum, a reporter for Al Jazeera. But if the deal goes through, Azzoum wrote, it’s estimated that approximately 600 humanitarian aid trucks will enter Gaza on a daily basis.

UNICEF has stressed that Israeli forces must immediately allow all aid and aid workers to enter Gaza, and lift the restrictions they’ve imposed over the last 15 months, blocking food and medical supplies—particularly from entering northern Gaza. Israeli forces have long claimed that these restrictions were necessary to stop supplies from reaching Hamas fighters. All this achieved was mass starvation and surgeries without anesthetic or proper sanitation supplies, doctors and humanitarian agencies say.

“Tens of thousands of women and girls have been killed and injured in Gaza… and without access to critical care and basic services. Women have been forced to give birth without medical help amid bombs and destruction. Nine people out of ten in Gaza cannot fulfill their daily food needs,” Dr. Natalia Kanem, executive director of the United Nations Population Fund said in a statement, adding that “the ceasefire deal offers a glimmer of hope.” She also called on “all parties” to “facilitate immediate, unhindered and scaled-up humanitarian access to enable UNFPA and its partners to provide critical assistance to all civilians in need across Gaza.”

Over the last year, at Jezebel, we’ve tried to shine light on a crucial piece of the genocide: the manmade reproductive health crisis, which has made it almost impossible to safely give birth or raise children for 15 months. “Women are three times more likely to miscarry and three times more likely to die in childbirth compared to pre-conflict rates,” the humanitarian organization Care International said in a statement shared with Jezebel on Wednesday. Maternal and infant mortality has surged and C-sections without anesthetic or sufficient medical supplies and fatal infections have been rampant.

Doctors who tried to serve pregnant women and children, like Dr. Thabat Salim of the Palestine Family Planning and Protection Association (PFPPA) earlier this month, have been killed by Israeli forces. “Women and girls desperately need and deserve peace, security, stability and a chance at a better future,” Kanem said.

One OBGYN, Dr. Areej Hijazi, wrote in November about the death and destruction that followed her everywhere throughout her time in Gaza; she narrowly survived Israeli attacks on her hospital and served pregnant patients who had sometimes lost their entire family, as well as one patient who had lost one leg and broke all other limbs, and needed a c-section. Following news of the ceasefire, one doctor wrote, “We watered [Gaza] with our blood, And with our hands, we’ll rebuild its soul. Gaza, beloved of the heart, forever whole. The soul of our souls.”

Since October 2023, at least 47,000 Palestinians have been killed; the United Nations reports 70% of the dead are women and children. The New York Times and other organizations report the death toll is substantially higher. In November, the Environmental Quality Authority reported that Israel’s military dropped over 85,000 tons of bombs on Gaza since October 2023—exceeding the amount of explosives used in World War II.

About 90% of Gaza’s population has been displaced and 69% of its buildings, and 95% of school buildings specifically, have been destroyed—as has almost the entirety of the health system. Gaza now has the highest number of child amputees per capita in the world, and close to 20,000 children have been orphaned. One UNICEF officer told Jezebel in November that Israel’s has been “the most horrific war on children” he’s ever witnessed. In December, the War Child Alliance reported 96% of surveyed children in Gaza said they believed their death—under bombs, drone strikes, famine, and disease—was imminent.

“If the ceasefire had happened just two weeks earlier, 120 children would still be alive, and of course, we’re talking about how at least 14,500 children have been killed over the duration of this conflict,” UNICEF officer Tess Ingram told Jezebel.

In addition to allowing humanitarian workers entry comes the work of rebuilding a 25-mile-long strip of land that’s been leveled to the ground. Ingram stressed that “stopping the bombs and the bullets doesn’t stop the humanitarian crisis. It doesn’t help the children suffering from malnutrition—that requires aid and services, which have been decimated by this conflict.” Ingram, too, stressed that it will be “important for the international community to make sure that enthusiasm for the ceasefire remains, that pressure is upheld to sustain the ceasefire and ensure it holds.”

In the U.S., the anti-war organization CODEPINK celebrated news of the ceasefire deal but stressed that “the crisis in Gaza did not happen in a vacuum. The people of Gaza were not all of a sudden in a state of war or siege. When the current genocide campaign began, over half of the population in Gaza were children—born there and never able to leave.” The organization continued, “If we want peace, we also need to demand justice. Neither peace nor justice looks like a return to the status quo pre-October 7.” 

“This is going to be a very long process to rebuild,” Ingram said. “But the first most important thing we can do is let in this life-saving aid that people have been short of for so long.”

To support humanitarian efforts to rebuild Gaza and the aid and health care workers on the ground, consider donating to organizations like UNRWA, PFPPA, MAP, and UNICEF.

 
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