Amjad Shawa, Director of the Palestinian NGO Network, has warned that Gaza is facing an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe, accusing Israeli authorities of weaponising aid to further a political agenda aimed at forcibly displacing the population.

According to Shawa, around 180,000 tons of desperately needed humanitarian supplies are currently being blocked at Israeli-controlled border crossings. With most local food systems destroyed, these stockpiles represent the last hope for survival for over two million besieged Palestinians. Yet the relief remains deliberately withheld.

Shawa condemned the so-called aid distribution centres operating under Israeli and U.S. oversight as functioning more like militarised checkpoints than humanitarian lifelines. “These are not neutral spaces,” he said. “They serve a political and military purpose, to fragment communities, control movement, and pressure Palestinians into displacement.”

He called on the international community to act urgently, demanding the opening of safe and independent humanitarian corridors free from political manipulation. “What we are witnessing is not just a siege,” he warned. “It is the strategic use of hunger as a tool of war.”