UN Agency Halts Food Delivery To North Gaza Due To "Complete Chaos And Violence" (image@UNRWA)
Hunger has been haunting Palestinians since the current Israel-Hamas war started. Amidst the chaotic situation, United Nations food agency stopped delivering aid to northern Gaza, citing the gunfire and “complete chaos and violence due to the collapse of civil order”.
United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said the decision to suspend the aid “has not been taken lightly” as it risks people dying of hunger. The agency said that “the safety and security to deliver critical food aid – and for people receiving it must be ensured”.
WFP said it suspended delivering aid to the north of Gaza three weeks ago after Israeli strike hit an aid truck. Though it tried to resume deliveries this week, said the convoys faced gunfire and crowds of hungry people stripping goods and beating the driver.
🆕STATEMENT: WFP is pausing the delivery of lifesaving food assistance to Northern Gaza until safe conditions are in place for our staff and the people we are trying to reach.
Our decision to pause deliveries to the north has not been taken lightly. The safety and security to… pic.twitter.com/eNc7d3kZDZ
— World Food Programme (@WFP) February 20, 2024
Israel targeted the people who were trying to collect aid from the truck. Video footage showed people fleeing to take over amid the sound of gun shots and clouds of fumes from the smoke bombs. Witnesses said one man died and many others were wounded during the attack, said Al Jazeera.
Videos of Palestinian children scooping up spilled flour from the ground after one sack broke open has emerged on social media.
WFP, which previously warned about famine-like condition to grip Gaza, affecting the 2.3 million of its population, said its teams “witnessed unprecedented levels of desperation” in north Gaza over the past two days.
The UN agency said it was working to continue the aid deliveries as soon as possible and called for better security for staffs and “significantly higher volumes of food”, along with opening of the crossing points for the aid to directly enter into Gaza from Israel.
Israel ahs blocked all humanitarian aid to Gaza since October 7th. United Nations Office for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that the number of aids entering to Gaza has fallen from 140 a day in January to 60 a day in February.
Despite the international pressure and interim ruling by the International Court of Justice, Israel, which controls all the entry points to Gaza, has opened only one entry point. This along with the protest of the right-wing Israeli protesters who block the aid trucks at the Kerem Shalom entry point into the Southern Gaza, has caused the snail pace delivery of the aids. The Israeli protesters claim that Palestinian people should not be given aid.
Even if the aid gets into Gaza, UN workers find it hard to collect them up at the crossing point because of the “lack of security and breakdown of law and order”, said OCHA spokesperson, Eri Kaneko. The disruption of the law and order also includes Israeli army deliberately targeting the Gaza police commanders guarding the truck convoys, said Al Jazeera.
UNRWA, United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees said that Israeli authorities have denied access to 51 percent of planned missions to deliver aid to northern Gaza. UNRWA said food security in the north of Wadi Gaza has reached an extremely critical state.
🛑 51% of missions planned by @UNRWA and humanitarian partners to deliver aid and undertake assessments to areas in north📍#Gaza this year were denied access by Israeli authorities.
Food insecurity north of Wadi Gaza has reached an extremely critical state #AccessDenied pic.twitter.com/YeKsZpKh4E
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) February 20, 2024
