Press releases

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."

Oxfam is warning that a total siege on Gaza will lead to a humanitarian catastrophe. Yesterday’s announcement from the Israeli government, in response to the appalling attacks by Hamas, will stop all food, water, electricity and fuel from reaching an already vulnerable population. The siege adds to the ongoing blockade of Gaza, which has endured for 16 years. 

Ahead of the meeting of European foreign affairs ministers to discuss the unfolding situation in Palestine and Israel, Bushra Khalidi, Oxfam Policy Lead in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel, said: “The mere prospect of suspending aid is not only alarming but is unacceptable.

More than half (57 percent) of the world’s poorest countries, home to 2.4 billion people, are having to cut public spending by a combined $229 billion over the next five years, reveals new analysis by Oxfam today ahead of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) Annual Meetings in Marrakech. 

All parties must immediately end this violence. Millions of innocent civilians are caught in the crosshairs of this escalation and are set to bear it's brunt.