I have treated the wounded under barrel bombs in Aleppo. I have operated in Syrian field hospitals where the floor shook with every explosion. And I have trained Ukrainian medics and doctors on how to protect themselves in case of chemical weapon attacks. I hoped that I had seen the worst of humanity.
I was wrong. In Gaza, we are seeing the same nightmare of total devastation and disregard for humanity.
I’ve traveled to Gaza four times in the last four years through my work with the medical NGO I lead, and served in Gaza’s hospitals as a critical care specialist.
I stood in Nasser Hospital last year as dozens of patients flooded in — many of them children — in the aftermath of a nearby missile attack. There weren’t enough beds. Supplies were nearly gone. We were forced to do battlefield medicine with one hand tied behind our backs.
I inserted chest tubes into the chests of young children — without local anesthesia. We had none left.
No parent in America would accept that standard of care. But in Gaza, it’s all that’s left. And now, even the ability to provide that makeshift care is slipping away. For more than two months, Israel has blocked the entry of humanitarian aid to Gaza. While Israel allowed a small number of aid trucks in this week, the vast majority of aid remains at the border, barred from entering.
The entire aid response is collapsing. More than 70,000 children are suffering from acute malnutrition. Screenings by aid organizations have revealed a staggering 150 percent increase in the malnutrition prevalence rate from February (before the blockade) to May. Our organization will start running out of nutrition supplies in less than two weeks.
Amid the catastrophe, the U.S. and Israel have proposed a new aid model. The plan proposes a handful of centralized distribution hubs, guarded by private contractors and the Israeli military. It would shrink the number of aid distribution points from over 400 to just four or five.
That’s not a humanitarian system — it’s a bottleneck. It’s also a powder keg, because when you concentrate scarce resources and surround them with armed men, you don’t ease tensions — you ignite them.
Humanitarian work succeeds through trust with the communities they serve. When soldiers and private security are inserted into that equation, aid workers are no longer seen as neutral. They’re seen as part of the conflict, making them targets.
I have worked in war zones long enough to know that when aid is weaponized, food lines and hospitals can turn into kill zones. One in five people in Gaza are already in famine conditions. Now imagine tens of thousands of desperate civilians converging on a guarded hub for food.
The world watched the “flour massacre,” when Israeli forces opened fire on hungry civilians crowding an aid convoy. That was the result of aid scarcity, desperation and fear. When only a trickle of aid enters, it sparks chaos. Gaza needs a flood of aid, and it needs it very quickly.
President Trump is right to demand that more aid enter Gaza. The goal is right: Get more aid to those in need, without delay.
But the method matters. We need a plan that works amid the realities on the ground. The Trump administration should be careful not to repeat President Biden’s mistake of pouring over $200 million into an ill-advised floating pier, intended as an offshore loading point to facilitate aid access and distribution. The pier was a failure and it now sits broken and abandoned. It delivered only a trickle of aid, chaotically and dangerously. It cost a U.S. soldier his life.
The pier’s failure should not have been a surprise — humanitarian experts warned it would fail. It epitomized the fatal disconnect between political gestures and effective humanitarian action.
Much like the failed pier, the new aid plan is operationally impossible. How is a malnourished mother supposed to carry a 40-pound food package back to her family miles away? How do the elderly, the disabled and the estimated 4,000 new amputees in Gaza access the aid?
What about the entire health system? Humanitarian aid isn’t just boxes of food — it’s services.
Humanitarian organizations provide emergency surgeries, safe deliveries for childbirth and the treatment of malnourished children. All of this requires aid workers on the ground, functional hospitals and health clinics with fuel for generators, clean water, medicine, medical supplies and the ability for civilians to travel safely to those hospitals. None of that is covered in the proposed plan.
These are not minor logistical hiccups; they are fatal flaws. At a time of budget cuts, no one can afford to see taxpayer dollars wasted. This plan costs more, delivers less and endangers everyone involved.
Meanwhile, a proven, effective solution is already waiting: The United Nations and NGOs already have hundreds of aid trucks lined up at Gaza’s borders, packed with food, water and medicine that’s already been paid for. It could be moving today — if Israel ends its blockade.
The real solution is clear: The U.S. government and the rest of the international community should press for Israel to allow the resumption of existing aid flows into Gaza, in accordance with international humanitarian law. What’s needed are functioning humanitarian corridors: 1,000 aid trucks per day, distributed across all of Gaza by the professionalized U.N. and NGO system.
Last week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio recognized criticism of the U.S.-Israeli plan and said, “We’re open to an alternative if someone has a better one.” The U.N. offered one the next day, publishing a plan to resume aid, incorporating enhanced monitoring and oversight mechanisms to address U.S. concerns about diversion. The U.S. should back this plan without delay.
Temporary piers, airdrops and aid hubs may feed headlines, but they don’t feed families.
People in Gaza cannot afford to be the subject of another aid “experiment.” They are out of time.
Dr. Zaher Sahloul is the president and co-founder of MedGlobal.
