Gaza: International community must ‘match words with action’ now

This article is published in association with United Nations.

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

Olga Cherevko, Spokesperson in Gaza for the UN aid coordination office OCHA, warned that history will not judge the international community “based on the speeches that we made” but rather on actions.

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

Gaza City ‘death sentence’

She said this past Tuesday, Gaza City “was handed a death sentence”, 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 that they tried to find space in the south, but there was none.

“His 8-year-old cousin was killed instantly in an Israeli strike together with several other children last week while waiting for some 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.

Death, despair and destruction 

“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 continued.

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

As humanitarians drove back into Gaza on Thursday, distraught people crowded around their convoy “pleading for this horror to stop,” she said. 

“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 said 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.” 

Humanity shines through

She noted that even amid hardship “humanity shines”, pointing to “the Palestinian doctors, nurses and paramedics working around the clock, often without pay, medicine or electricity.” 

This also includes 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 – a refusal to let cruelty define the future. Proof that even in the darkest times, the human spirit endures,” she said.

Hope and action

Ms. Cherevko shared that 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 that must pave the way to a 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 her remarks 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.”