Updated September 17, 2025 at 6:29 PM MDT
Major aid groups suspended or significantly scaled back their remaining operations in eastern Gaza City on Tuesday after Israeli tanks reached the city's outskirts as part of a ground offensive.
"People in Gaza City are facing an impossible choice: live under bombardment and famine, or risk a dangerous journey south where they know that there are no services that can accommodate them," said Shaina Low, a communications adviser for the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC). "What we are witnessing is mass forcible transfer of Palestinians from Gaza City, which is a war crime and must be stopped."
The military escalation came as an independent U.N. commission concluded that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza, a charge Israel has denied, calling a report from the commission "distorted and false."
"Gaza is burning." Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz wrote on X on Tuesday. "The IDF is striking the terror infrastructure with an iron fist, and IDF soldiers are fighting bravely to create the conditions for the release of the hostages and the defeat of Hamas. We will not relent and we will not turn back—until the mission is completed."
At least 100 Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes over the last day, according to local hospitals. Aid groups say the Israeli military continues to restrict access to food, water, and humanitarian aid, worsening a crisis already marked by starvation and displacement.
Israel has frequently accused Hamas of diverting aid, although it has not provided evidence of the claim. Hamas denies the accusation.
Low, who has been in regular contact with NRC colleagues on the ground — most of them local staff — said civilians are being forced into impossible decisions as the offensive intensifies. She shared some of their experiences in an interview with NPR's Morning Edition.
Interview highlights
On what Gaza City colleagues have been telling her:
I was in touch with a number of colleagues yesterday evening who told me stories of horror, and just facing tremendous fear. Days of bombardments, of towers being bombed around them, dust and smoke filling the air, bullets hitting the sides of the buildings that they're trying to shelter in. Right now, people in Gaza City are facing an impossible choice: live under bombardment and famine or risk the dangerous journey to the south, where they know that there are no services that can accommodate them, that there's no aid to be distributed to help them in their displacement.What we are witnessing is mass forcible transfer of Palestinians from Gaza City, which is a war crime and must be stopped.
On whether Gaza City colleagues are choosing to stay or go south:
Two weeks ago, I spoke to my colleague who told me that he and his family were committed to stay in Gaza City, that they had a roof over their head and concrete walls surrounding them, and that they would stay until they had no other choice. Right now, he is on his way to the south of Gaza because he told me he could not bear to see the look of fear in his children's eyes any longer. The decision is one that our staff have to make on their own. We have other staff who have told me that the conditions in the south are not even suitable for animals and that they prefer to stay in their homes. And if they die, at least they die in dignity. These are the questions, impossible questions, that our staff and hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza City are facing right now.
On whether there are any basic necessities, like water:
Most humanitarian agencies, including the Norwegian Refugee Council, have had to at least pause or suspend our operations because the conditions are so unsafe. We've had to suspend our own water trucking. There are a handful of organizations that are still providing some type of assistance. But as the bombardment increases and the ground troops advance on the city, it becomes more and more dangerous for humanitarians who are determined to provide support wherever people are in need to continue to fulfill that mission.Very little aid, if anything, is reaching Gaza City at this point. People are describing empty markets, or markets where items are just cost-prohibitive and far too expensive. We desperately need the world to act to put an end to this.
On how Israel's ground invasion might change how the Norwegian Refugee Council operates:
We will continue to provide services throughout Gaza wherever we have access and wherever we have supplies. Of course, we have not gotten a single item of aid in since Israel imposed a near-total siege over six months ago. And so we are doing the best we can with zero resources coming in.
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