For more than a year, IsraAID, the Israeli humanitarian relief group known for its work in global disaster zones, has been operating in Gaza — quietly, without publicity or logos.
As CEO Yotam Polizer told eJewishPhilanthropy in a recent interview, the group avoided attention to protect partners and avoid politicizing its work. But with the humanitarian crisis now extreme, he says silence is no longer an option.
IsraAID’s approach has been unconventional. With no “boots on the ground” inside Gaza, the group acts as a behind-the-scenes facilitator for vetted international aid organizations.
It leverages its unusual position — trusted by Israeli authorities yet steeped in humanitarian logistics — to solve problems that can otherwise stall life-saving deliveries and ensure delivery routes are safe from active fighting.
This is not headline-grabbing work. It is the painstaking coordination that keeps aid flowing in one of the most difficult environments on Earth, where civilians cannot flee and combat zones overlap with homes, hospitals and schools.
Polizer describes an “extreme humanitarian situation” in which food prices have soared — as high as $2,000 for a 25-kilogram sack of flour — and severe malnutrition is emerging, especially in northern Gaza.
IsraAID has responded by building a logistics hub to source medicine, support field hospitals, and coordinate with both the Israel Defense Forces and international bodies to deliver food, hygiene supplies and other essentials — all while preventing diversion to Hamas.
That balance is tough to maintain. Hamas has long diverted aid and Israel initially barred all supplies from entering Gaza. Now, policy has shifted, with more aid flowing through Israeli crossings, Egypt, Jordan and even by airdrop.
IsraAID’s disclosure comes at a sensitive time. In recent weeks, more Israelis and mainstream Jewish organizations have acknowledged the depth of Gaza’s crisis.
Even leaders from communities devastated in the Oct. 7 attacks told Polizer that IsraAID’s work gave them “the most hopeful thing they’d heard since Oct. 7” — a sign that helping Gazan civilians can be part of building a safer future.
IsraAID’s work also shows how humanitarian action can align with strategic goals. During the January/February cease-fire, it helped coordinate the entry of 600 aid trucks per day, a level of cooperation that served both civilians and efforts to secure hostage releases.
Now, with Israel threatening expanded military operations, the question is whether humanitarian actors should scale back. The answer, based on IsraAID’s experience, is “no.”
The greater the fighting, the greater the need for precisely this kind of pragmatic, secure and coordinated aid delivery.
Continuing efforts will need political cover from Israeli leaders, sustained IDF cooperation, and strong support from the Jewish community and international donors. They will also require moral clarity — the rejection of the false choice between security and humanity.
Polizer concedes that in wartime, this work is “a drop in the ocean.” But drops matter when people are dying of thirst.
Beyond immediate relief, IsraAID is laying the groundwork for long-term recovery, one that could draw on Arab-Israeli medical professionals, Jewish donors and regional partners.
Even if Hamas vanished tomorrow, Gaza’s rebuilding will take years.
In a war in which aid itself is often weaponized, IsraAID’s quiet, pragmatic approach offers a rare model.
It treats humanitarian relief not as a political tool but as a foundation for eventual stability. It is a model that deserves recognition, and support, in the difficult days ahead.
