In a rare turn, Caritas—a confederation of 165 organizations—publicly challenged the Israeli narrative on Gaza’s starving population.
By Editorial Staff (08/15/2025 08:21, Gaudium Press) — The humanitarian arm of the Catholic Church, Caritas Internationalis, has firmly denied the Israeli government’s claims that sufficient aid is reaching the Gaza Strip. According to the organization’s statement delivered on Thursday at the Vatican, “since the beginning of March, most major international NGOs have not been able to send a single truck with vital goods… while Palestinians are dying of hunger.”
In a rare turn, Caritas—a confederation of 165 organizations—publicly challenged the Israeli narrative on Gaza’s starving population. Alongside over a hundred other humanitarian actors, they condemned “the continuous obstruction of humanitarian aid to Gaza.”
For more than five months, no humanitarian organization has succeeded in sending a single aid truck into the Gaza Strip, despite having tons of food, medicine, and hygiene supplies stored and ready for distribution. In July alone, Israel denied over 60 clearance requests, according to data collected by Caritas Internationalis and other involved entities.
Millions of dollars worth of food, medicine, water, and protective supplies remain stranded in warehouses in Jordan and Egypt, “while Palestinians are dying of hunger,” Caritas reported.
The Israeli Justification
The root of the current conflict lies in Israel’s increasingly stringent registration requirements for international organizations—measures intended to control humanitarian aid. Israel’s coordinating authority for the occupied territories (COGAT) criticized NGOs for alleged non-cooperation and denied that aid was being blocked.
COGAT stated that humanitarian organizations’ refusal to provide detailed information on donors and staff raises “serious doubts about their true intentions and the possibility of links with Hamas.” Such accusations, Caritas responded, are “an insult to the Church and global public opinion”—and similarly unfounded against other major NGOs providing aid worldwide.
Moreover, Israel’s demands contradict the GDPR and fundamental humanitarian principles.
Compiled by Gustavo Kralj with InfoCatólica files
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