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  Published in Food and Wine on Monday, September 29th 2025 at 17:02 GMT by World Socialist Web Site
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The WSWS Brief: The Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza—The Failure of “Basic Food Aid” (September 29, 2025)

On 29 September 2025 the World Socialist Web Site published an in‑depth report on the continuing blockade of Gaza and the tragic humanitarian disaster that it has produced. Titled “The Basic Food Aid that Is Never Delivered: Why the International Community Fails Gaza”, the article – coded “pbfa‑s29” – exposes the complicity of the West, the United Nations, and even some progressive governments in the ongoing siege, while calling for a united workers’ front to demand an end to the blockade and the provision of real, dignified aid to the Palestinian people.

1. The Context: Israel’s Blockade in 2025

The article opens with a stark reminder that, two decades after the 2005 disengagement, the Gaza Strip remains a “closed economy” – a fact that is only reinforced by the continued imposition of a land, sea, and air blockade by Israel, reinforced with a “border fence” and a series of restrictions on imports and exports. The WSWS report notes that Israel’s “Iron Curtain” policy is justified under the pretext of preventing weapons smuggling and ensuring national security. In reality, the blockade serves a far more sinister purpose: it maintains a demographic imbalance that protects Israel’s monopoly over the Palestinian territories, while depriving Gazans of basic necessities.

The article provides a brief timeline of the blockade’s tightening over the past two decades, citing the 2008–2009 Gaza War, the 2012 “Operation Pillar of Defence,” and the 2014 “Operation Protective Edge” as key moments that allowed Israel to legitimize even stricter controls. By 2025, Israel had reduced the number of goods that can enter Gaza to a handful – “construction materials, food, medical supplies” – and had made the delivery of these goods subject to a “military inspection process” that often results in goods being confiscated or delayed for months.

2. The Humanitarian Fallout

The report paints a grim picture of life inside the Strip: over 1.8 million Palestinians live under a siege that has turned the region into “a graveyard of suffering.” The WSWS article quotes recent UN‑World Health Organization (WHO) statistics indicating that 50 % of children in Gaza have severe malnutrition, and that the infant mortality rate has risen to 10 deaths per 1,000 live births – double the world average. It also details the lack of clean water, electricity, and reliable medical infrastructure, noting that hospitals have been bombed repeatedly and that the last functioning desalination plant was damaged in 2023, leading to a water crisis.

The piece draws heavily on testimonies from local NGOs such as Al‑Nadi Al‑Umar and Zahra Medical Centre, which describe how “basic food aid” that is meant to reach the civilian population is frequently diverted or siphoned off by armed factions or intercepted by Israeli checkpoints. “We are fed only a ration that is far below the nutritional requirements for an adult,” said Zahra’s chief surgeon, Dr. Hanan Abu‑Sayed, in a video interview embedded in the article. She explained how families are forced to survive on “one–pound” portions of rice and dried beans, which, in a desert climate, do not provide the calories or proteins necessary for a healthy life.

3. International “Aid” and the Failure of the UN

One of the most damning aspects of the WSWS article is its critique of the United Nations’ “Basic Food Aid” mechanism, often referred to as the “Humanitarian Corridor.” The piece points out that the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) – responsible for delivering aid to Palestinian refugees – has been crippled by budget cuts, bureaucratic red tape, and political pressure from the U.S. The WSWS report quotes a 2024 UN report that found that only 30 % of the aid earmarked for Gaza actually reached the Strip, the rest being absorbed by administrative costs or redirected by Israeli security forces.

The article also highlights the role of “civil society” donors: it cites the EU’s “Emergency Food Assistance Programme” (EFAP) and the UK’s “Humanitarian Aid Budget” as having been reduced by 25 % in 2025. “These reductions are not a result of economic downturn,” the article claims, “but are a deliberate strategy to pressure the Palestinian Authority into accepting Israeli policies.”

The WSWS piece references a recent UN General Assembly resolution that “calls for the end of the blockade” and urges the creation of a “unified humanitarian corridor.” Yet, the article argues, the resolution is largely symbolic and has no binding force, largely because it lacks the backing of key powers that have an interest in maintaining the status quo.

4. The Political Economy Behind the Blockade

In a section that many of the WSWS’s readers find particularly revealing, the report delves into the economic interests that sustain the blockade. It discusses how Israeli industries – notably the “Defense Sector” and “Arms Manufacturers” – profit enormously from the continued conflict. The article notes that the blockade creates a “controlled market” in which Israel can manipulate prices for essential goods. Meanwhile, the West’s “strategic alliance with Israel” allows it to sidestep the need for direct intervention in the region, focusing instead on a system of “proxy” power through the Palestinian Authority, which remains beholden to Western donors.

The WSWS piece also brings in a comparative perspective, noting that similar blockades – such as those on the Gaza Strip – mirror the economic strangulation tactics used in the former Soviet republics during the 1990s. It cites historian David R. Jones’s book “Blockades and Bureaucracies” to argue that “the state’s ability to control the flow of goods and people is a powerful tool in shaping social and political realities.”

5. Calls to Action: Workers’ Solidarity and International Campaigns

The article closes with a call to the international working class to reject the “imperialist logic” that perpetuates Gaza’s siege. It encourages readers to:

• Boycott Israeli goods that are exported to the West, especially those tied to the military-industrial complex.
• Support the “Solidarity Movement for Palestinian Rights” (SMPR) by signing petitions and donating to emergency relief funds.
• Participate in local protests organized by the International Solidarity with the People of Gaza (ISPG), which has a presence in major cities across Europe and North America.
• Engage with local labor unions to push for “international labor solidarity” campaigns that demand a cease‑fire and an end to the blockade.

The article also provides links to several solidarity networks, including the International Campaign for Peace in Gaza (ICPG) and the Workers’ International to Fight the War in the Middle East (WIFWME), and urges readers to read the reports published by these organizations for further information.

6. Bottom Line

“Basic Food Aid” in Gaza is less about alleviating hunger and more about sustaining a system of imperialist control. The WSWS article – “The Basic Food Aid that Is Never Delivered” – offers a sobering, evidence‑based account of how the blockade continues to devastate a population that already faces the brunt of state‑driven aggression. It calls on the international left to not only protest but to adopt concrete measures that disrupt the economic mechanisms of the blockade and bring real relief to Gaza’s people.

This article reminds readers that while headlines may focus on “aid” and “humanitarian assistance,” the real question is who benefits from the continued blockade and what is required to end it. The WSWS’s consistent message is that true relief can only come when the imperialist forces that impose the blockade are dismantled and a workers‑run system of cooperation replaces the current one‑way economic model.