DaysofPal- The specter of famine threatens Gaza amidst a deteriorating health and humanitarian situation across the entire Gaza Strip as long as conflict continues, and humanitarian access is restricted.
In this regard, the World Food Program (WFP) of the United Nations issues a warning that, if nothing is done right away, the current humanitarian crisis in Gaza may soon turn into famine. There will probably be disastrous outcomes as winter draws near because of the shortage of food and other essential humanitarian supplies reaching the Strip.
“Now, as the situation in northern Gaza continues to deteriorate, the likelihood of a larger group being impacted by famine will surely increase unless conditions on the ground improve,” said WFP, the United Nations’ food agency.
About 94,000 tonnes of food, enough to feed a million people for four months, were on hand in Egypt and Jordan, according to WFP, but they were unable to enter Gaza because there were not enough open entry points and others were unsafe.
Since Israel seized the Rafah crossing with Egypt in May, months after it began its offensive in Gaza, all routes into Gaza have been controlled by Israel.
“Restrictions on humanitarian aid coming into Gaza are severe,” WFP said, adding that only 5,000 tonnes had entered the Gaza Strip this month.
WFP has also expressed its deep concern about new Israeli legislation affecting the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). “UNRWA is indispensable in providing lifesaving aid and social services in Gaza. If implemented, this decision will have devastating consequences for the most vulnerable people.”
More than 100,000 people in northern Gaza are without food, water, or medicine following Israel’s weeks-long siege of the region, according to the spokesman for the Palestinian Civil Defense agency in Gaza. Israeli forces are also continuously bombing inhabited homes in the area.
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