News summary of Israel’s war against Hamas and the situation in Gaza on June 14
WFP fears southern Gaza could face ‘extreme hunger’
Children wait to receive food at a charity kitchen in Rafah, Gaza, on February 13. (Photo: Ibrahim Abu Mustafa/Reuters).
The World Food Programme (WFP) says its operations are being severely affected by escalating fighting in southern and central Gaza, limited flows of humanitarian aid and the breakdown of law and order in the south.
In a video released on Friday, the agency said limited distribution of short-rationed food packages was underway for families in central and southern Gaza. But it warned that southern Gaza could suffer from the same severe famine previously seen in the north.
“People are now forced to live in areas with inadequate drinking water, medical supplies, fuel and limited food aid,” the agency said on Friday.
“We have been able to resume food distribution thanks to new food parcels received via the port and, more recently, Kerem Shalom, the main cargo transit point in the south,” WFP said.
He said, “WFP and other aid agencies are struggling to access humanitarian aid from Kerem Shalom due to active conflict, damaged roads, unexploded ordnance, fuel shortages, delays at checkpoints and Israeli restrictions.” Since 20 May, there has been a slight increase in aid arriving through the Kerem Shalom crossing, but it needs to be significantly increased.
WFP said aid to northern Gaza had improved. “WFP is delivering supplies through the western Erez crossing. We hope to continue using this route in a safe, sustained and expanded manner. Problems remain with clean water, medical care, fuel needed for bakeries, generators to pump water and for road transport, and medical supplies: garbage collection, sewage that is not pumped out, tons of debris blocking movement on roads in Gaza City and the north.”
The WFP said that while basic commodities are available in markets in southern and central Gaza, they are unaffordable for many people, and a lack of commercial goods entering through the northern crossings means that markets in northern Gaza are empty or food is sold at exorbitant prices.
It quotes Umm Imad, a woman sheltering at an UNRWA school in Jabalia, as saying: “It has been 250 days of war but to us it feels like 250 years. We woke up and went to bed hearing the sound of bombing and air strikes. “We are not getting food or anything else.”
WFP deputy executive director Karl Schau said after a two-day visit to Gaza that in Gaza City, the centre of the enclave, the agency was able to come across large quantities of food.
“Our concerns now are really in the south, where the progress we made is being reversed. But in addition to that, of course, people need more than just food to survive and the people I talk to here in Gaza City tell me they need sanitation, they need basic health care and, frankly, they need a certain level of dignity. “Everyone I talk to wants a ceasefire.”
“The destruction is unbelievable as you go through Gaza City towards Jabalia (to the north),” Skou said. “In northern Gaza, I did not see a single safe building and there was constant shelling from drones flying overhead,” Skou said. “People here are shocked and exhausted.”
Skau said: “It is becoming increasingly difficult to do our job. Staff spend five to eight hours waiting at checkpoints every day. Missiles have hit our facilities despite being free of conflict. The breakdown of law and order means we also face looting and violence amid a huge security vacuum,” Skau said.
“One million people have been expelled from Rafah and are stuck in a very crowded area along the beach in the scorching heat,” Skou said. During his trip, “we passed through rivers of sewage.”
WFP reports that all bakeries in Rafah have closed. Only nine of the 17 WFP-supported bakeries elsewhere are operating. WFP’s main warehouse in Rafah, which is currently in the fighting zone, has been evacuated.
The agency said WFP warehouses came under fire twice last week.
The WFP said that despite many challenges, it had provided assistance to more than 1 million people in Gaza in May, with rations reduced due to limited access and dwindling food stocks. Reversing six months of famine conditions requires a multi-sectoral response that addresses short-, medium- and long-term needs.
WFP said it is going beyond providing people with canned food, biscuits and ready-to-feed meals, as well as enabling them to choose their preferred foods for their families, to investing in local markets, infrastructure and food systems, to make a tangible impact on people’s lives.
Addressing this shift in focus, Skou said: “We will now look at how we can support the functioning of markets and also get cash to people so they can start to restore their lives. “Emergency aid remains essential, but we must create some hope (by supporting bakeries and markets) and move beyond just meeting food needs for survival and supporting water sanitation and basic health care needs.”