Marking World Humanitarian Day, Palestinian groups warned that nearly two years of Israeli aggression and blockade have left over 61,000 Palestinians dead, the majority women and children, with famine and malnutrition claiming at least 235 more lives, including 106 children.

The statement urged maximum international pressure on Israel to open crossings, end what it described as a “crime of extermination and starvation” against more than two million people in Gaza, and allow urgent humanitarian and medical aid to enter freely. Mere words of condemnation, it said, are no longer enough.

The groups also demanded that Israeli leaders be brought before international justice and held the United States complicit in enabling the blockade and its deadly consequences. At the same time, they praised local and international relief teams working under fire to deliver aid to those in need.

On this occasion, they called on the United Nations and humanitarian organisations worldwide to step up their efforts in Gaza and confront Israel’s ongoing attempts to obstruct and manipulate international relief mechanisms.