The population of Gaza, where only 10% of the food necessary for the subsistence of its inhabitants has entered since the beginning of the current conflict, “faces the immediate threat of hunger,” the World Food Program of the UN.
“Food and water reserves are virtually non-existent and only a fraction of what is needed crosses borders. With winter fast approaching, insecurity, overcrowded shelters and a lack of clean water, civilians face the immediate possibility of starving,” said Cindy. McCain, executive director of the WFP.
Also this Thursday, at a press conference in New York, WFP Middle East spokesperson Abeer Etefa presented details about the situation on the ground, indicating that the population of Gaza currently eats one meal a day “and is limited to canned foods. , the only one available at the moment.”
“Bread has become a real luxury,” added Etefa, stressing that “fishermen cannot go out to sea, nor can farmers reach their land, and the last bakery that operated with the help of the WFP had to close.” .
Added to these deficiencies is the fact that refrigerators have stopped working due to lack of electricity, which means that families cannot store perishable food.
“We are beginning to see cases of dehydration and malnutrition, which are increasing rapidly every day,” he said.
Also Juliette Touma, director of communications for the United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), participated in the videoconference, indicating that, due to the new ‘blackout’ of communications registered in Gaza, there will be no cross-border operation in the Rafah passage on the other hand Friday.
“The communications network in Gaza is disconnected because there is no fuel and this makes it impossible to manage or coordinate humanitarian aid caravans,” he said.
“Today, Gaza appears to have been hit by an earthquake, but it is man-made and could have been completely avoided,” he lamented, adding that the population and humanitarian aid teams on the ground are “dehydrated, hungry and exhausted.”
Touma considered it “simply scandalous” that humanitarian agencies are reduced “to begging for food” and criticized the fact that, in this war, “water, food and fuel are used as weapons of war.”
According to Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, Israeli bombings that began on October 7 killed more than 11,500 people, mostly civilians, including 4,710 children.
On the Israeli side, the attack by Hamas, an organization considered terrorist by the European Union and the United States, caused around 1,200 deaths, mostly civilians, according to Israeli authorities. They also took about 240 people hostage and took them to Gaza.
The Israeli Army announced this Thursday the death of two more soldiers in the fighting in the Gaza Strip, bringing to 51 the total number of soldiers killed in Palestinian territory since the start of the war against Hamas.
Source: TSF
