The group, which includes Amnesty International, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and Oxfam, say “mass starvation” is spreading across Gaza and that their colleagues in the enclave are wasting away from hunger.

“Doctors report record rates of acute malnutrition, especially among children and older people,” they said in a statement. “Illnesses like acute watery diarrhoea are spreading, markets are empty, waste is piling up, and adults are collapsing on the streets from hunger and dehydration.”

“Distributions in Gaza average just 28 trucks a day, far from enough for over two million people, many of whom have gone weeks without assistance,” they said. “The UN-led humanitarian system has not failed, it has been prevented from functioning.”

The NGOs said governments must stop waiting for permission to act.

“It is time to take decisive action: demand an immediate and permanent ceasefire; lift all bureaucratic and administrative restrictions; open all land crossings; ensure access to everyone in all of Gaza; reject military-controlled distribution models; restore a principled, UN-led humanitarian response and continue to fund principled and impartial humanitarian organisations,” they said. “States must pursue concrete measures to end the siege, such as halting the transfer of weapons and ammunition.”

“Piecemeal arrangements and symbolic gestures, like airdrops or flawed aid deals, serve as a smokescreen for inaction,” the statement said. “They cannot replace states’ legal and moral obligations to protect Palestinian civilians and ensure meaningful access at scale. States can and must save lives before there are none left to save.”