Food flows into Gaza still far below targets: World Food Programme
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
A truck carries aid for Palestinians, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip.
PHOTOS: REUTERS
Follow topic:
GENEVA – The UN World Food Programme said on Oct 21 that supplies into Gaza were ramping up after the US-brokered ceasefire but were still far short of its daily target of 2,000 tonnes because only two crossings are open, and none to the famine-hit north of the enclave.
Around 750 tonnes of food are now entering the Gaza Strip daily, according to the WFP, but this was still well below the scale of needs after two years of conflict between Israel and Hamas that has reduced much of Gaza to a wasteland
“To be able to get to this scale-up, we have to use every border crossing point right now,” WFP spokeswoman Abeer Etefa told a Geneva press briefing.
She added that only two of the Israeli-controlled crossings were operational – Kerem Shalom in the south and Kissufim in the centre.
The ceasefire plan brokered by US President Donald Trump envisages “full aid” being sent into Gaza.
An Israeli security official said that humanitarian aid continues to enter through the Kerem Shalom crossing and additional crossings in accordance with the plan, without naming them.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Oct 18 the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt will remain closed until further notice, with its reopening dependent on Hamas handing over bodies of deceased hostages.
The UN children’s agency spokesperson Ricardo Pires said on Oct 21 the humanitarian response was still far below the required scale and called for all entry points to reopen.
Some nutrition supplies for children and pregnant women have reached the north via the south, Ms Etefa said, but it was still far short of the level required.
“We haven’t had large-scale convoys into Gaza City or to the north of Gaza,” she said, adding that WFP had not been granted permission to use the main north-south Salah al-Din road.
Food supplies delivered so far are enough to feed around half a million people for two weeks, she said.
Many Gazans were storing the food they are receiving because they are afraid that supplies might again dry up.
“They eat part of it, and they ration and keep some of the supplies for an emergency, because they are not very confident how long the ceasefire will last and what will happen next,” she said. REUTERS
