The difficult delivery of humanitarian aid is becoming even more complicated.
The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) announced on Tuesday that it was once again suspending the distribution of aid in the north of the Gaza Strip, which is experiencing “chaos and violence”.
The WFP had already suspended three weeks ago the sending of food aid to northern Gaza ravaged by four months of war after an Israeli strike against a truck of another UN agency.
He resumed his deliveries on Sunday but, since then, his trucks have been “looted” or targeted by fire in a context of “total chaos and violence”, he said in a press release.
The goal was to bring 10 truckloads of food aid into this area of the small Palestinian territory per day for seven consecutive days in order to "help stem the tide of hunger and despair and begin to build trust among the population." that there would be enough food for everyone.
A driver molested
But on Sunday, a convoy heading toward Gaza City “was surrounded by a crowd of hungry people.”
WFP personnel managed to repel the attackers trying to board trucks before “coming under fire” in Gaza.
And, on Monday, several trucks “were looted” between the towns of Khan Younes and Deir el-Balah, a driver was molested.
“The decision to suspend deliveries to the northern Gaza Strip was not taken lightly, as we know that this means that the situation there will deteriorate further and more people will be at risk of death. die of starvation,” underlines the agency.
The WFP warned on Monday that an alarming lack of food, rampant malnutrition and rapid spread of disease could lead to an "explosion" in the number of child deaths in the strip.
At least 90% of children under the age of five in Gaza are affected by one or more infectious diseases, according to a report by Unicef, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the WFP.
“Hunger and disease are a deadly combination,” WHO emergency manager Mike Ryan said in a statement.
A total of 2.2 million people are threatened with famine in the Gaza Strip, according to the UN.
The war was sparked by an unprecedented attack launched on October 7 by Hamas commandos infiltrated into southern Israel.
More than 1,160 people were killed, the majority civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli data.
The Israeli army launched an offensive in retaliation which left 29,092 dead in Gaza, the vast majority civilians, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health.