International Rescue Committee’s Bob Kitchen explains why Gaza is the ‘most intense crisis’ he’s seen in 25 years of responding to humanitarian emergencies and how the IDF strangles aid efforts in the Strip
Bob Kitchen, Vice President of Emergencies at the International Rescue Committee, a global humanitarian organization that provides emergency aid and support in conflict zones, has spent over two decades responding to crises around the world, from the war-torn countries like Iraq and Darfur, to natural disasters and displacement.
But Gaza, he says, is unlike anything he’s ever witnessed.
Since the IRC began operating in the Strip shortly after October 7, amid the outbreak of war and mass displacement, Kitchen has overseen its ground efforts. The IRC has a team of about 50 people in Gaza, the vast majority of them Palestinian, that delivers lifesaving humanitarian assistance. At any given time, the team is supported by two international staff members.
Kitchen last visited Gaza in April 2024, working with local colleagues on emergency aid, water, and sanitation programs. But since Israel broke the cease-fire in late March, the organization has struggled to function, as it is blocked from bringing in essential supplies and forced to operate with dwindling resources.
Aid distribution by groups like the UN and IRC has been effectively replaced by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, an Israel- and U.S.-backed initiative. The foundation has come under growing scrutiny from humanitarian groups, both for failing to meet basic needs and for the deadly violence reported at its distribution sites.
Kitchen spoke to Haaretz at the International Rescue Committee HQ in New York one day before Israel’s Security Cabinet approved Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan for the IDF to enact control over the entirety of Gaza.
What is unique about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza compared to others you’ve worked on?
“To put it in perspective: While Sudan is currently facing the world’s largest humanitarian crisis in terms of sheer numbers – it’s a much bigger country with a far larger population – Gaza is, by far, the most intense crisis I’ve seen in my 25 years of humanitarian work.
“The proportion of the population that has been profoundly affected – and affected very urgently – is off the charts. Over 90 percent of the population has been displaced. That means they’ve lost their homes and been forced to flee, either because of destruction or evacuation orders. And not just once – people have had to move multiple times.
That level of displacement across an entire population is something I haven’t seen anywhere else. It’s staggering.
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“The second thing is this: I have never seen a famine, or a famine-level hunger emergency, happening in a location that’s surrounded by so much food. All the neighboring countries, including Israel, have plentiful food. There are abundant resources and aid infrastructures right on the borders. Tens of thousands of tons of food are ready to go. They could solve this problem tomorrow.
“Famine is usually the result of a combination: a natural disaster like drought, plus a man-made conflict. But even in those cases, it rarely tips into famine anymore. That’s why, for the past hundred years, it’s been war – not drought – that pushes food insecurity over the edge into famine.
“But in Gaza, there’s no drought. The land around it is fertile. The problem isn’t environmental. It’s political. It’s a result of decisions made by people.
Can you speak about what the humanitarian consequences would be if Israel fully occupied Gaza?
“To address your phrasing: I don’t think there’s a square inch of the Strip that hasn’t been impacted already. I don’t think there’s a single family that hasn’t been profoundly affected. I was there a year ago, and even then, the destruction was immense. Since then, it’s gotten at least four times worse.
“A so-called total occupation would only make things worse, millions of lives in immediate danger. The only real solution is a cease-fire and the return of the hostages. Without both, we’ll just continue in a cycle of suffering and loss. An end to the violence and the return of those held is the only way through this.
“Beyond that, the only viable path forward in humanitarian intervention is rapid and unimpeded access – that’s language taken directly from international humanitarian law. We need to be let in.”
What is the IRC is currently doing in Gaza? How much aid is getting in, and what’s the scope of your operations right now?
“Very little is getting in for us, or for any other NGO or UN agency. We’re doing what we can with the people and materials still inside Gaza. That means distributing water – collecting it from desalination plants and trucking it into densely populated areas, especially for displaced families.
“It might sound counterintuitive, since hunger is dominating the headlines, but people rarely die from hunger alone. What usually kills them are complications – communicable diseases like diarrhea, which become deadly when there’s no clean water or sanitation. A simple stomach bug can be fatal when someone is severely malnourished.
“We’re also supporting women and children affected by the violence. We are offering counseling, stabilization, and trauma-processing activities.
“Where we can, we’re helping malnourished people through therapeutic feeding programs, but that’s getting harder. We’ve had trucks loaded with ready-to-use therapeutic food stuck outside Gaza in Jordan and Egypt for six months.
And when you say you’re being blocked, is that by the Israeli army?
“We request permission to bring supplies in through the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) and Coordination and Liaison Administration (CLA). So yes, it’s a military-administered system.”
So there’s been no explanation for why your aid requests are being blocked, or why the existing UN and NGO distribution system was replaced by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation?
“Prior to GHF becoming operational, COGAT had reached out to the IRC and other organizations to request that we run distribution sites. Those sites were later taken over by GHF.
Also, I would, very collegially and respectfully, challenge the use of the word ‘replaced.’ Because ‘replaced’ implies proportionality, an equivalence or continuity of some kind. What we’re seeing is a system that is failing in a very significant way to meet either the needs on the ground or the obligations that the government of Israel holds under international law to ensure access to food, water, and medicine.
“GHF is not distributing water. It is not distributing medication. And even in terms of food, according to GHF’s own data, it is reaching, at best, 20 percent of the actual need.
“I’m not suggesting the UN and NGO system is or was perfect. Gaza is an incredibly complex place to work. There have always been challenges, and we’ve faced restrictions in many forms for a long time. But even with those challenges, the previous system delivered far more aid to far more people.”
There have been reports that GHF has reached out to organizations to take over their supplies. Is that true?
“To my knowledge, we have not had direct outreach from GHF. Our main issue is not with the idea of distribution itself, it’s with the nature the current sites. These sites are heavily militarized. They don’t reflect best practices in humanitarian aid distribution, especially in complex and insecure environments like Gaza.
“We’ve worked in extremely dangerous places before, and there are well-established methods for delivering aid safely and effectively. These heavily armed sites are not among them. And we’ve seen that play out in real time, just look at the number of people who have been killed in or near those distribution points.”
Your organization has been in Gaza since shortly after October 7. Can you tell me what has changed, especially after the cease-fire was broken in March?
“When we first went in, there was a relatively sophisticated system of deconfliction and coordination for movement and for bringing in supplies. We were able to get some materials in. The Rafah crossing into Egypt was open. It wasn’t easy, and there were constraints, but it was possible.
“That all changed when Rafah was taken, around April 2024. After that, everything had to come in through Israel and the UN-coordinated system. That made things much more difficult.
“When the cease-fire was announced, things eased somewhat. We were able to get in a lot more supplies. Since the cease-fire ended, aid has basically stopped. We haven’t gotten anything meaningful into Gaza in four months. Despite claims that things are flowing, every request we’ve made has been denied. And the impact is obvious.”
In what ways?
“Before the cease-fire, there were already pockets of what’s called Phase 5 under the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification system, also known as the IPC. Phase 5 means catastrophic food insecurity. These pockets were in northern Gaza. At the same time, more than a million people in the middle and south were at Phase 4 emergency-level hunger, which is extremely severe.\
“When the cease-fire was in place, food was still scarce, but no areas were in Phase 5, and the number of people in Phase 4 dropped significantly. Since the cease-fire ended, it’s deteriorated quickly. In just the last month or two, people have moved from Phase 4 into Phase 5 and famine-level conditions, where lives are at immediate risk.
“What’s especially concerning are recent figures from the World Health Organization. I know there are debates over data sources in Gaza, but based on the WHO’s own reporting, in Gaza City, one in five children is severely malnourished. The latest WFP report says 100,000 children and women already face famine-level starvation. The decline is real, measurable, and accelerating.
“To put an even finer point on it: The hunger situation is so bad that two weeks ago we requested permission to bring in food solely for our Palestinian staff. These are individuals who have been vetted beyond belief, screened against all terrorism lists, reviewed through our own due diligence processes, and more. Still, that specific request – to bring food for our own staff – was rejected.
There have been a lot of claims that Hamas diverts or reroutes aid. Have you experienced anything like that on the ground?
“The headline of my answer is no. We haven’t been blocked from the inside. We’re blocked by insecurity, dangerous checkpoints in Gaza and bureaucratic red tape, but not by local authorities.”
If the border were to open now, what would IRC’s capacity be to scale up aid?
“Our primary focus would be delivering large volumes of clean, safe water. We’d also clear solid waste and repair sewage lines – both major sources of disease.
“In parallel, we’d expand our malnutrition programs: screening families, treating cases directly, and referring the more severe ones to health facilities. We’ve done that in other crisis zones and are ready to do it in Gaza.
“We’d also scale up our mobile health teams to help people manage basic health needs within their communities. That’s critical, it keeps hospitals from being overwhelmed by cases that don’t require emergency care.”
There’s been a slew of headlines in Israel questioning whether famine is really happening. What’s your response, given what you’ve seen on the ground and what your teams are seeing now?
“The scale of suffering is well documented. I’ve seen the destruction of homes, hospitals, and schools firsthand. That’s not in dispute.
“Now we’re seeing images of emaciated children and credible reports of hundreds of children dying from hunger. Organizations like the IRC are saying clearly: This is real. It’s happening – not just in the abstract, but to our staff and their families.
“I don’t know what more it takes to recognize that we’ve crossed a threshold. Thousands will die, not from bombs or bullets, but from bureaucratic decisions that are denying people their basic rights: food, water, and medicine.”
In recent weeks, more world leaders, and even some in the Trump administration, have begun acknowledging the crisis publicly. Has that translated into any real change on the ground? More food, medicine, equipment?
“I’ve been disappointed. In other crises, international pressure would have opened humanitarian access and allowed large-scale aid. That hasn’t happened here. The pressure is building, and we may be at a high point in global awareness, but I honestly don’t know what it will take. I’m not a politician, and I can’t speak to what leverage governments have.
“What I can say is that there hasn’t been a moment in recent years when the need for humanitarian access has been more urgent. We’re at a breaking point. Without a change in the flow of aid, many more people will die.”
In response to the allegations in this article, COGAT provided the following statement to Haaretz: “Prior to the resumption of humanitarian aid entry into the Gaza Strip, the defense establishment formulated a new mechanism for the entry, monitoring, and oversight of humanitarian aid, in a manner that reduces Hamas’s ability to be involved in the processes of bringing in and distributing the aid. As part of this, and in accordance with the directive of the political echelon, it was determined that international aid organizations wishing to operate in the Gaza Strip would be required to undergo a registration process with the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs.
“It should be noted that the new mechanism, as well as the registration process, were presented and communicated to all international aid organizations prior to the mechanism’s implementation.
“The organization mentioned in your inquiry began its registration process with the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs only recently. Once the organization completes the process and is approved by the authorized officials at the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs, it will be permitted to bring in aid, in coordination and subject to security inspection at the crossings.”
Etan Nechin is an Israeli Journalist.
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