War Child Alliance Statement on Rafah Distribution Incident

According to eyewitnesses and press reports, long waits and poor organisation led to hired-in security losing control. Gunfire was heard, and there are unconfirmed reports of injured and even killed civilians, including children. War Child mourns every civilian and child harmed.

This incident reflects the innate grave flaws in the design and implementation of the distribution model led by the Israeli government and supported by the US government. ‘Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’, the organisation established to implement this model, is operating outside UN coordination and under Israeli government oversight, raising serious questions about its neutrality. War Child reiterates that humanitarian assistance must not be politicised or militarised. Yet this scheme appears to entangle aid with politics and security objectives, undermining impartiality and effectiveness. All actors behind this operation – including those in governments and private security firms – must be held fully accountable for any mismanagement or harm.

The catastrophe in Gaza is a direct result of practices that violate international law. The witholding of food, water and aid from civilians – especially children – as a bargaining tool in war is explicitly prohibited. Under the Fourth Geneva Convention, Israel as an occupying power has a duty to ensure the survival of the population. The current total siege of Gaza, imposed since October 2023, has already had terrible consequences for the one million children in Gaza, causing acute shortages of food, water, medicines and shelter. By forcing people into a bottlenecked militarised distribution site, the Israeli-US plan risked further violations of people's basic rights.

War Child reaffirms that all humanitarian aid must be delivered on neutral, impartial and needs-based principles. We join the UN and other humanitarian actors in calling for safe, unrestricted access for relief to Gaza. Aid must flow through all reliable entry points at scale and safely. As they have before, UN agencies and NGOs should be able to coordinate unhindered aid distribution using well-tested mechanisms to ensure such distributions are safe for everyone. This means no armed interventions, no intimidation, access for all who are in need, and special measures to protect children, older people and those with specific vulnerabilities in line with international standards. The UN has emphasised that it already has a detailed, principled, operationally sound plan ready to reach Gaza’s starving population. War Child insists these principled relief channels be fully resourced and unimpeded.

Above all, we call on the international community to act with urgency. Gaza’s children have suffered immeasurably under siege and bombardment; for their sake we must act now.

More information or interviews:
Jessica Timings, Media Manager
Jessica.Timings@warchild.net