Press releases

The collapse of Gaza’s hospitals and healthcare system, coupled with the catastrophic living conditions, is resulting in babies dying of preventable causes, Oxfam warned today.  Newborns up to three months old are dying of diarrhoea, hypothermia, dehydration and infection as mothers have little to no medical support and are living in appalling conditions without water, sanitation, heat or food.  

In response to the announcement of the release of hostages and prisoners, and of the four-day humanitarian pause to escalated hostilities in Gaza, agreed today between Hamas and the Government of Israel, Oxfam’s Humanitarian Director, Marta Valdez Garcia, said: “We welcome that fact that a number of the Israeli and foreign national hostages will be released. This deal allows much-needed time for families on both sides to be reunited, celebrate the safe return of their loved ones, and mourn those they have lost. It would be optimistic to see this as the beginning of a road toward a permanent ceasefire – but that looks distant.  

The El Niño-induced heavy rains and flash flooding killed 130 people in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, while the region is still reeling from one of the most severe droughts in 40 years. Despite the pressing needs, funding to tackle the increasing humanitarian crises in 2023 in the three countries have fallen significantly short by $4.1 billion since in 2023 alone.

The richest 10 percent of Europeans produced as much carbon pollution in 2019 as half of Europe’s poorest population, Oxfam reveals today. These findings, based on Oxfam’s new report “Climate Equality: A Planet for the 99%”, come ahead of the UN climate summit in Dubai and amid growing fears that the 1.5°C target for curtailing rising temperatures appears increasingly unachievable. 

The richest 1 percent of the world’s population produced as much carbon pollution in 2019 than the five billion people who made up the poorest two-thirds of humanity, reveals a new Oxfam report today. It comes ahead of the UN climate summit in Dubai, amid growing fears that the 1.5°C target for curtailing rising temperatures appears increasingly unachievable.

The amount of water available to people trapped in Gaza will still be just 17 percent of pre-siege levels, despite the Israeli government announcing that two trucks of fuel will now be allowed in each day, Oxfam warned. Current fuel levels have made water treatment, pumping and distribution virtually impossible. All water, fuel and food to Gaza was cut off by the siege implemented by the Israeli government on 9 October.

Major European banks and investors are backing Glencore’s toxic mining activities in Colombia and Peru. This is according to a new report by Fair Finance International, Oxfam, CooperAcción, Cinep and Censat. The report reveals that nearly 50 percent of loans and underwriting to Glencore over the last six years came from European banks like UBS and Société Generale, amounting to 41.2 billion euro.  

Reacting to the vote on Malta’s resolution, Oxfam America President and CEO Abby Maxman said: “Today’s resolution does show important progress in the Council in an effort to uphold international law. But at a time when a full cessation of hostilities is required, it falls far short by calling only for extended humanitarian pauses and corridors. Those are not nearly enough while the violence and siege continue. Even as hospitals are bombarded and the UN warns that their fuel supplies for aid have run dry, it is a bitter disappointment that UN Security Council members are still not able to vote for a ceasefire in Gaza."

Aid agencies operating in Gaza issued an urgent warning that fuel reserves critical for aid operations have run out, bringing the limited assistance delivered in Gaza in recent weeks to a complete halt.

In response to the escalation of attacks on hospitals in Gaza, Sally Abi Khalil, Oxfam’s Middle East Regional Director, said: “Attacks on hospitals packed with civilians in need of urgent treatment and seeking shelter are abhorrent and can never be justified. Children receiving care for cancer, people on respirators, patients in intensive care cannot flee the violence. Indiscriminately firing on civilians in hospitals is not just a war crime, it’s an assault on humanity.  

Oxfam is gravely concerned for the lives of around 500,000 Palestinians, alongside any of the more than 200 Israeli and other national hostages, currently trapped in a “siege within a siege” in northern Gaza.  

In response to the United Nations Environment Program’s Adaptation Gap Report 2023, Nafkote Dabi, Oxfam International’s Climate Change Policy Lead, said: “The report underlines how the gap in adaptation funding —at its ‘highest ever’ amid accelerating climate breakdown— must be addressed with the utmost urgency next month in Dubai."

Starvation is being used as a weapon of war against Gaza civilians, Oxfam said today as it renewed its call for food, water, fuel and other essentials to be allowed to enter.  

Today, Members of the European Parliament called for a humanitarian pause in the resolution they adopted on the events in Gaza. In response, Vittorio Infante, Oxfam EU conflict expert said: "This is a timid gesture. While any window to bring in aid to Gaza safely should be seized at this catastrophic stage, this is not the real answer.

Gaza is facing an unprecedented health crisis that risks an outbreak of deadly infectious diseases, like cholera, because water and sanitation services have completely broken down, says Oxfam. 

Today, European finance ministers updated the EU tax havens list. They added Antigua and Barbuda, Belize and Seychelles to the blacklist and removed the British Virgin Islands, Costa Rica and the Marshall Islands.

Ahead of European leaders meeting tomorrow to discuss the unfolding events in Gaza, Vittorio Infante, Oxfam EU conflict expert, said:

CEOs of 12 humanitarian agencies alarmed by Israel’s call for over a million Palestinians to leave northern Gaza in less than 24 hours. They are urging Israel to rescind this order immediately.

Responding to the Israeli government’s order for northern Gaza to evacuate, Amitabh Behar, Oxfam International interim Executive Director said: “The world can see that this evacuation order is both utterly inhumane and impossible; the Israeli government must rescind it immediately."