GAZA: ‘There Are No Standards to Tell You What to Do in Conditions like Gaza’

by CIVICUSWednesday, August 19, 2026Inter Press Service CIVICUS discusses the state of civic and humanitarian action in Gaza with Ibrahim Arandas, a Palestinian activist and project manager at SPARK Gaza, a civil society organisation that provides humanitarian and psychosocial support. Ibrahim ArandasIsrael’s onslaught on Gaza, which began in October 2023, forced most people from their homes and left almost everyone reliant on humanitarian aid. A much-breached ceasefire that began on 10 October 2025 allowed more aid to enter, but conditions remain dire. Throughout the war, local civil society organisations, grassroots volunteers and international partners have worked to try to provide humanitarian support.What’s life like for people in Gaza now, and what needs are most urgent?Today, life is defined by scarcity and uncertainty. Israel has turned Gaza into something far worse than a concentration camp. It has engineered a system designed not just to confine and suffocate an entire population, but to erode people’s lives day after day, generation by generation. This is not a simple military operation but deliberate, prolonged destruction, calibrated to keep people alive, but just enou...