“We do not want aid from the world. We want to stop the war.” Community priorities and perceptions of aid and support in Gaza

Ground Truth Solutions (GTS) and Arab World for Research and Development (AWRAD) spoke to people in Gaza to find out what the humanitarian situation looked like from their perspective. This second report contains insight generously shared by 1,248 people in Gaza between 22 June and 30 July 2024, via face-to-face surveys and in-depth interviews. It aims to inform the ongoing humanitarian response, as well as reporting and diplomacy among the media, engaged governments, human rights actors and humanitarian funders. It also seeks to allow people simply to share what they want to share during an acute crisis and to ensure they have a global audience. 

Key findings: 

- 10 months into the war, survival is a daily battle. People are exhausted, constantly on the move, and gripped with fear. Half of those we spoke with have now been forced to move four times or more.
- People desperately need food and clean water. Every person we spoke to said these are top priorities, and many repeated the plea for food and water at the end of interviews.
- Communities are banding together, but mutual aid is reaching its limits as resources dwindle. One in four people we spoke to said they had been forced to send children to work.
- Almost everyone is now reliant on aid, but its distribution is considered unsafe and unfair. People say that corruption and favouritism are rampant.
- Access to financial resources is crumbling as exorbitant market prices are draining people’s remaining savings.
- People in Gaza want to remind us all that they are human. Not victims, not superheroes. Many feel dehumanised and abandoned by the international community.