WFP says food supplies to Gaza below targets, urges more crossings to open

According to the UN World Food Programme, supplies to Gaza have increased since the US-brokered ceasefire, but they are still far short of the 2, 000 tonnes needed daily due to only two crossings into Palestinian territory still open.

The WFP estimates that the Gaza Strip receives 750 metric tons of food each day, but this is still far below the necessary scale after two years of Israel’s devastating war, which has rendered much of Gaza inruins.

Recommended Stories

list of 3 itemsend of list

We must use every border crossing point right now, according to WFP spokesman Abeer Etefa, who spoke to a news briefing in Geneva on Tuesday.

Only two of the Israeli-controlled crossings into Gaza, known as Kerem Shalom and Kissufim in Israel, were still operational, according to her.

According to Etefa, supporting the ceasefire that US President Donald Trump brokered is “vital, because it’s the only way we can save lives and stop the famine in the north of Gaza.”

In the US president’s 20-point strategy to end the war, “full aid” is planned for Gaza. Without naming any of them, an Israeli security official informed Reuters that humanitarian aid is still transferring through the Karem Abu Salem crossing and additional crossings in accordance with the plan.

The UN agency now has 26 food distribution points in Gaza, up from five on Friday, but still far below the 145 it hopes to have throughout the territory, according to the spokesperson. The Strip’s southern and central areas are where the majority are located.

The Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt will remain closed until further notice, according to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose decision to reopen depends on Hamas’ handover of the bodies of the dead.

On Tuesday, Hamas announced that it would hand over the remains of two more Israeli prisoners. At 9 p.m., according to the Qassam Brigades, “we will hand over the bodies of two Israeli prisoners who were exhumed today in the Gaza Strip (18:00 GMT).”

13 of the 28 captives’ bodies, which the group had pledged to return, have so far been returned by the organization.

According to Etefa, some nutrition supplies for young children and pregnant women have traveled through the south to northern Gaza, but they are not enough to meet the demand.

She continued, noting that the WFP had not been given permission to use the main north-south Salah al-Din Street, noting that “we haven’t had large convoys enter Gaza City or the north of Gaza.”

According to her, the food supplies that have been delivered so far will provide food for about 500,000 people for two weeks. Because they were concerned that supplies might again run out, many Palestinians in Gaza were storing the food they were receiving.