As Israel continues to wage war on the Palestinian organization Hamas, the World Food Programme warned on Tuesday that famine is “imminent” in northern Gaza, where no humanitarian organization has been permitted to give supplies since January 23.
Other organizations have requested assistance in getting aid to the thousands of Palestinians in need as a severe humanitarian crisis is developing in the Gaza Strip and the primary UN relief organization is finding it difficult to handle the situation.
“If nothing changes, a famine is imminent in northern Gaza,” WFP’s deputy executive director Carl Skau told the UN Security Council, while his colleague from the UN humanitarian office OCHA, Ramesh Rajasingham, warned of “almost inevitable” widespread starvation.
As aid remains blocked from entering northern Gaza by Israeli forces, and only enters the rest of the territory in dribs and drabs, UN aid chief Martin Griffiths last week wrote to the Security Council calling on members to act to prohibit “the use of starvation of civilian population as a method of warfare.”
“Here we are, at the end of February, with at least 576,000 people in Gaza — one-quarter of the population — one step away from famine, with one in six children under two years of age in northern Gaza suffering from acute malnutrition and wasting,” OCHA’s Rajasingham said.
Maurizio Martina, the deputy director general of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), issued a warning, stating that around 97% of Gaza’s groundwater is “reportedly unfit for human consumption” and that the country’s agricultural output is starting to decline.
Additionally on Tuesday, a spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stated that help is prepared and waiting at the border.
“WFP colleagues also tell us that they have food supplies at the border with Gaza, and with certain conditions they would be able to scale up feeding up to 2.2 million people” across the Strip, Stephane Dujarric told reporters.
“Almost 1,000 trucks carrying 15,000 metric tons of food are in Egypt ready to move,” he said.
