Gaza Crisis: Global Community Urged to Act, Not Speak

A displaced family sit outside their tent in Gaza.

In the Gaza Strip, hope may be all that remains, but it is not enough to keep people alive, a veteran humanitarian warned on Friday, calling for urgent action to end the conflict and bloodshed.

Olga Cherevko, spokesperson in Gaza for the UN aid coordination office (OCHA), cautioned that history will not judge the international community “based on the speeches that we made” but on its actions.

Speaking from Deir Al-Balah, she delivered a stark message: “When Gaza burned, and children starved, and hospitals collapsed – did you act?”

She said Gaza City “was handed a death sentence” on Tuesday, with hundreds of thousands of battered civilians ordered to flee to an already overcrowded area where “even small animals have to search for spaces to squeeze between to move around.”

Across the Strip, the situation is dire. A friend texted her on Thursday saying there was no space left in the south.

“His 8-year-old cousin was killed instantly in an Israeli strike, together with several other children last week while waiting for bread to be baked,” she told journalists at UN Headquarters.

The friend’s daughter, who recently turned two, has known nothing but war, she added.

“The unmistakable smell of death is everywhere – a grisly reminder that the ruins lining the streets hide the remains of mothers, fathers, children,” Ms. Cherevko said.

“Humans who used to laugh, cry, dream. Their lives cut short by the war’s killing machines, many never to be found again.”

When humanitarian workers drove back into Gaza on Thursday, distraught people crowded around their convoy “pleading for this horror to stop,” she recalled.

“Dignity and hope have been stripped away, with every killing of a loved one, with every strike on a civilian lifeline, with every denial of access.”

She warned that “the race against time, against death, against the spread of famine, feels as if we as humanitarians are running through quicksand. Even more so as humanitarian convoys are too often denied, delayed or obstructed by the Israeli authorities.”

Despite the devastation, she highlighted moments of resilience. “Humanity shines in the Palestinian doctors, nurses and paramedics working around the clock, often without pay, medicine or electricity,” she said.

She also praised aid workers from UN agencies, the Red Crescent and other organizations “delivering food, medicine and clean water under fire,” as well as ordinary people who share the little they have with strangers.

“In every act of care is a refusal to let cruelty define the future – proof that even in the darkest times, the human spirit endures,” she added.

Ms. Cherevko said she is often asked if she has any hope left. “Hope may be all we have left, so we must nurture it,” she said. “But hope alone won’t keep people alive. Urgent decisions are needed to pave the way to lasting peace before it’s too late.”

She stressed that “the people of Gaza are not asking for charity. They are asking for their right to live in safety, in dignity, in peace,” adding that “our humanity – yours, mine, all of ours – demands that we act now.”

She concluded by insisting that “today, and every day, is a new chance for the international community to match words with action. Don’t miss it, as it might be the last.”